JC-NRLF 


SB 


7DD 


[EN  A  STATE 
GOES  DRY 

A   BRIEF    STUDY    IN 
LAW    ENFORCEMENT 


GIFT   OF 
Intercollegiate 

P  r»  r>  V>  ^l  "K -^  f- T  rm 


WHEN  A  STATE  GOES  DRY 


WHEN  A  STATE 
GOES  DRY 


A    BRIEF    STUDY    IN 
LAW   ENFORCEMENT 

BY 

FREDERICK  0.  BLUE 


State  Tax  Commissioner  of  West  Virginia 
ex-officio  State  Commissioner 
of  Prohibition 


AMERICAN  ISSUE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

WESTERVILLE,  OHIO 


c-o  l\ 


Copyright  1916,  by  the  American  Issue  Publishing  Company 


CONTENTS 


Page. 
FIRSTWORD    ii 

THE  WRECKAGE  13 

GROWTH  OF  LAW 15 

LEGISLATION    22 

EDUCATION  29 

LAW  ENFORCEMENT 38 

MAJESTY  OF  THE  LAW 48 

MUNICIPALITIES  51 

INVISIBLE  GOVERNMENT 61 

REVENUE  74 

THE  ECONOMIC  SIDE  OF  THE  QUESTION  85 

THE  FOREIGNER 98 

PREPAREDNESS 109 

THE  HOPE  OF  IT  ALL 113 


CHAPTER  I. 

First  Word 


THE  people   of  West  Virginia,  at  the 
general  election,  1912^  adopted  as  part 
of  their  State  Constitution*  a  proposed 
amendment,  reading  as*  f ollows :   -  -  •  - 
"On  and  after  the  first  day  -of  July,  one 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  fourteen,  the  man- 
ufacture,  sale  and  keeping  for  sale  of  malt, 
vinous  or  spirituous  liquors,  wine,  ale,  porter, 
beer  or   any  intoxicating  drink,   mixture   or 
preparation  of  like  nature,  except  as  herein- 
after provided,  are  hereby  prohibited  in  this 
state.  Provided,  however,  that  the  manufacture 
and  sale  and  keeping  for  sale  of  such  liquors 
for     medicinal,     pharmaceutical,     mechanical, 
sacramental,  and  scientific  purposes,  and  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  denatured  alcohol  for 
industrial  purposes  may  be  permitted  under 
such  regulations  as  the  legislature  may  pre- 
scribe.    The  legislature  shall,  without  delay, 
enact  such  laws,  with  regulations,  conditions, 
securities  and  penalties  as  may  be  necessary  to 
carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  this  section." 
Pursuant  to  the  adopted  amendment,  the 
Legislature  enacted  laws  to   carry  the  same 

ll 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

into  effect.  Among  other  provisions  of  the 
laws  is  the  provision  that  the  state  tax  com- 
missioner shall  be  ex-officio  state  commis- 
sioner of  prohibition. 

The  enforcement  of  a  prohibition  law  is 
an  interesting  study;  and,  such  study  includes 
the  subjects  of  the  following  chapters. 

The  following  chapters  give  some  of  the 
impnessioris  made  on  the  writer  respecting  law 
*  deforcement  in  the  course  of  his  efforts  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  imposed  by  law.  No  chapter 
exhausts  the  subject  treated  in  the  chapter. 
Indeed  the  subject  of  any  of  such  chapters 
may  well  be  made  the  subject  of  an  entire 
book. 

It  is  hoped,  however,  that  enough  has 
been  said  in  the  several  chapters  to  awaken  the 
interest  of  the  reader,  and  stimulate  him  to 
reflection,  as  well  as  to  secure  his  sympathy 
and  win  his  co-operation. 


12 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Wreckage 


ANY  great  destroying  force  leaves  the 
evidences    of    its    workings    on    the 
community  visited  by  the  force.  The 
storm    leaves    its    path;    the    flood 
leaves     its     track;     and     the     path     of     the 
storm  may  be  apparent  for  many  years  and 
the  track  of  the  flood  may  be  ineffaceable. 

When  the  people  of  a  state,  by  law,  rid  the 
state  of  the  saloon,  they  do  not  immediately 
rid  the  state  of  the  products  of  the  saloon. 
Inebriates,  criminals,  degenerates,  slaves  to 
the  Master  Drink  and  morally  stunted  citizens, 
grafters,  some  indifferent  public  officials, 
either  with  "wet"  convictions  and  "wet"  con- 
nections, or  if  not  "wet,"  without  courage  to 
enforce  law — these  are  some  of  the  products 
of  the  saloon — its  wreckage  of  society  left  to 
society.  The  state  which,  for  a  generation  or 
generations,  has  given  its  men,  young  and  old, 
to  the  saloon  in  exchange  for  so-called  rev- 
enue, must  reap  that  which  she  sowed — the 
wreckage  of  society  left  to  society  by  the  sa- 
loon. The  state  cannot  clear  away  such 
wreckage  in  a  day  nor  in  a  month  nor  in  a 

13 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

year.  Indeed,  to  do  so  is  a  process  requiring 
time,  patience  and  effort,  in  which  process  law 
enforcement  and  education  are  two  great  fac- 
tors. 

In  the  summer  of  1915,  at  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Penitentiary,  a  young  man  paid  the 
death  penalty  for  taking  the  life  of  another. 
His  poor  old  gray-haired  mother,  bowed  under 
many  weary  years  and  great  sorrow,  came  to 
carry  home  the  body  of  her  boy.  Devoted  to 
him  in  life,  she  loved  him  in  death — as  only  a 
mother  could.  In  her  great  anguish  she  sob- 
bed: "He  was  a  good  boy.  He  was  always 
so  good  to  me.  And  now  that  he  is  gone  I  am 
left  all  alone  in  this  world,  and  everything  will 
be  so  lonely.  I  wish  that  I  could  have  gone 
with  him.  He  never  gave  me  a  harsh  word  in 
his  life,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  saloon 
that  taught  him  to  drink,  and  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  liquor  that  he  got  the  day  he  shot  that 
man,  he  never  would  have  done  it." 

The  young  man  had  learned  to  drink 
when  the  state  permitted  the  saloon.  He  was 
its  product.  A  dealer  outside  the  state  had 
furnished  him  intoxicating  liquor  on  the  day 
the  fatal  shot  was  fired. 

A  widowed  mother  passes  her  days  in  her 
lonely  home,  and  now  and  then  lays  a  wreath 
of  mountain  flowers  on  the  grave  of  her  boy. 

14 


CH3CEXER  m. 


PPONENTS  of  laws  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  assert  that  such  laws 
cannot  be  enforced.  Such  as- 
sertion is  here  denied.  True,  the  law  will  not 
automatically  enforce  itself.  Many  factors 
must  be  dealt  with,  and  many  powerful  forces 
overcome.  Nevertheless  such  laws  can  be  en- 
forced. But  the  accomplishment  of  enforce- 
ment must  come  through  persistent  effort  and 
a  growth — a  development.  This  growth — this 
development — may  be  slow.  Time  and  pa- 
tience are  necessary.  Those  who  believe  in 
prohibition  laws  must  prepare  themselves  to 
"run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us/'  The  statement  of  the  proposition  should 
not  discourage.  Much  already  has  been  ac- 
complished. Every  great  reform  is  slow.  Men 
may  claim  the  benefits  of  silently  working 
forces  of  a  century,  and  yet  be  unaware  of  their 
existence.  The  men  of  a  generation  may  press 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  that  unknown  hands 
planted! 

Any  great  reform  law  is  a  growth.     "An 
15 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

eye  for  an  eye"  was  not  an  original  rule  of  law 
of  the  great  Hebrew  law-giver.  Learned  as  he 
was  in  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  Moses- 
incorporated  into  the  Hebrew  law  a  rule  of  law 
that  even  then  was  of  long  standing.  Back  of 
the  time  of  Moses  society  began  the  struggle 
to  get  away  from  the  crude  law  that  "Might  is 
right."  Some  reformer,  recognizing  that  so- 
ciety demanded  a  new  law,  had  boldly  pro- 
claimed the  new.  Society  never  took  so  bold  a 
step  before,  nor  indeed  has  society  since,  in  its 
efforts  to  make  things  better.  Probably  there 
were  men,  then,  who  loudly  asserted  that  the 
new  law  could  not  be  enforced;  that  it  was  im- 
practical; and  that  it  deprived  them  of  their 
personal  liberty.  The  law,  however,  became 
established.  Through  the  intervening  centu- 
ries the  principle  of  the  law  has  been  part  of  the 
law  of  enlightened  nations.  The  same  princi- 
ple is  part  of  our  law  today.  It  is  applied  daily 
in  the  courts.  In  cases  of  assault  or  homicide 
where  the  accused  relies  upon  self-defense,  the 
material  question  is,  did  the  accused  use  only 
reasonable  and  necessary  force  to  defend  him- 
self. In  civil  cases  the  question  often  arising 
is,  did  one  party  or  the  other  use  only  reason- 
able force.  And  yet  the  effort,  the  suffering, 
the  sacrifice  and  time  necessary  to  establish 
this  great  law! 

16 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Another  illustration.  The  sovereign  state 
prosecutes  violators  of  the  penal  law.  This  is 
done  on  the  theory  that  injury  to  the  individ- 
ual or  his  property  violative  of  criminal  stat- 
utes, is  an  injury  done  to  society.  Society — 
the  state — at  public  expense  provides  courts, 
public  prosecutors,  compulsory  attendance  of 
witnesses,  jurors  and  places  for  detention  of 
those  convicted  of  violation  of  criminal  laws. 

The  lay  citizen  assumes  that  society — the 
state — always  has  prosecuted  offenses  against 
the  individual  and  his  property.  Such,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  fact.  Even  in  the  preserved 
records  of  European  peoples  punishment  for 
injuries  to  the  person  or  his  property  was  left 
to  the  injured  person  or  his  blood  kin.  Ven- 
geance was  law.  Criminal  law  began  as  pri- 
vate vengeance.  Then  followed  a  period  in 
which  the  conception  of  communal  peace  be- 
gan gradually  to  emerge;  and  in  consequence 
private  vengeance  came  to  be  considered  as  an 
interference  with  the  public  peace.  The  com- 
munal interest  interposed  and  induced  the  con- 
testants to  put  down  their  arms  and  agree  upon 
a  price  to  be  paid  to  the  injured.  This  was  the 
Wergild.  And  later,  but  as  a  fiction,  there  de- 
veloped the  notion  that  injuries  to  the  individ- 
ual and  to  his  property,  with  the  right  of 
vengeance  to  the  injured,  destroyed,  or  tended 

17 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

to  destroy,  the  peace  of  the  king.  Therefore, 
to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  king,  the  state 
denied  to  the  private  person  the  right  to  pun- 
ish the  offender  by  the  punitive  act  of  the  in- 
jured person,  and  the  state  became  the  prose- 
cutor and  inflicted  punishment  in  case  of  guilt. 
The  old  fiction  referred  to  is  reflected  in  indict- 
ments or  presentments  of  our  day.  For, 
indictments  conclude  "against  the  peace  and 
dignity  of  the  king/'  or,  with  us,  "against  the 
peace  and  dignity  of  the  state."  And  yet  the 
years  of  pain  and  struggle  while  the  law  grew 
and  developed! 

In  the  period  of  development,  particularly 
in  the  early  stages,  men  resisted  the  growth 
and  progress  of  the  law:  They  probably  in- 
sisted that  the  law  was  not  practical;  and  that 
the  law  denied  them  their  personal  liberty  by 
denying  to  them  the  right  to  wreak  personal 
vengeance.  But  now,  who  would  have  society 
return  to  the  law  of  "might  is  right,"  or  the 
"law  of  vengeance"? 

A  nation  grows  and  develops  in  its  views 
of  social  rights  and  social  wrongs.  Such  views 
crystallize  into  the  law.  In  the  early  history 
of  our  nation  lotteries  were  not  unusual.  On 
the  contrary  they  were  quite  common.  In 
some  instances  funds  were  raised  by  means  of 
lotteries  to  build  public  bridges  and  highways, 

18 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

and  other  internal  improvements — lotteries 
for  such  purposes  being  authorized  by  law. 
Indeed,  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  a 
state  made  provision  for  the  property  of  a 
great  statesman — an  ex-President  of  the  Re- 
public— to  be  disposed  of  by  a  lottery  con- 
ducted in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  act. 

Nearly  a  century  after  such1  act,  public 
opinion  against  lotteries  crystallized  into  law 
— in  an  act  of  Congress.  The  usual  arguments 
against  the  law  were  made — such  as  the  "de- 
nial of  rights"  guaranteed  by  the  constitution, 
personal  liberty,  etc.  In  the  argument  it  was 
urged  on  behalf  of  the  appellant  that  "The 
Father  of  his  Country  believed  in  and  patron- 
ized lotteries."  However,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  sustained  the,  act,  the 
court  saying: 

"If  a  State,  when  considering  legis- 
lation for  the  suppression  of  lotteries 
within  its  own  limits,  may  properly  take 
into  view  the  evils  that  inhere  in  the  rais- 
ing of  money  in  that  mode,  why  may  not 
Congress,  invested  with  the  power  to 
regulate  commerce  among  the  several 
states,  provide  that  such  commerce  shall 
not  be  polluted  by  the  carrying  of  lottery 
tickets  from  one  state  to  another?  In  this 
connection  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 

19 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  com- 
merce among  the  states  is  plenary,  is  com- 
plete in  itself,  and  is  subject  to  no  limita- 
tions except  such  as  may  be  found  in  the 
Constitution.  What  provision  in  that  in- 
strument can  be  regarded  as  limiting  the 
exercise  of  the  power  granted?  What 
clause  can  be  cited  which,  in  any  degree, 
countenances  the  suggestion  that  one 
may,  of  right,  carry  or  cause  to  be  carried 
from  one  state  to  another  that  which  will 
harm  the  public  morals?  We  cannot  think 
of  any  clause  of  that  instrument  that  could 
possibly  be  invoked  by  those  who  assert 
their  right  to  send  lottery  tickets  from 
state  to  state  except  the  one  providing 
that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  his 
liberty  without  due  process  of  law.  We 
have  said  that  the  liberty  protected  by  the 
Constitution  embraces  the  right  to  be  free 
in  the  enjoyment  of  one's  faculties;  'to 
be  free  to  use  them  in  all  lawful  ways ;  to 
live  and  work  where  he  will;  to  earn  his 
livelihood  by  any  lawful  calling;  to  pursue 
any  livelihood  or  avocation,  and  for  that 
purpose  to  enter  into  all  contracts  that 
may  be  proper.'  But  surely  it  will  not  be 
said  to  be  a  part  of  any  one's  liberty,  as 
recognized  by  the  supreme  law  of  the 

20 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

land,  that  he  shall  be  allowed  to  introduce 
into  commerce  among  the  states  an  ele- 
ment that  will  be  confessedly  injurious  to 
the  public  morals/'* 

The  law  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  the  enforce- 
ment thereof  makes  for  a  great  social  reform. 
A  reform  double  in  its  aspects  in  this,  that  it 
touches  both  moral  and  economic  questions. 
The  liquor  question  is  one  of  the  great  prob- 
lems the  world  of  to-day  must  meet  and  solve. 
Experiences  of  our  own  country  and  of  coun- 
tries at  war,  particularly  the  latter,  are  forcing 
the  question  to  the  front  and  every  land  is  feel- 
ing the  pressure  of  the  question,  which,  no 
longer  being  local,  has  largely  passed  from  the 
districts  and  the  counties.  It  knocks  not  only 
at  the  door  of  states,  as  units,  but  also  at  the 
door  of  nations  does  it  make  its  pressure  felt 
as  it  presents  itself  for  an  answer! 

As  other  great  reform  laws  have  strug- 
gled, grown  and  finally  triumphed,  so  will  pro- 
hibitory laws  have  their  struggles  and  their 
growth  and  their  triumph. 


Champion  vs.  Ames,   188  U.   S.   321. 


21 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Legislation 


T%     ^"ORALS  cannot  be  legislated  into 
\ /I     people"  is  the  favorite  proposition 

_!_ V  -L  °f  those  opposed  to  prohibition 
laws.  The  proposition  is  not  con- 
ceded. For  the  present,  however,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  say,  intoxicating  liquors  can  be  legis- 
lated out  of  people  by  entirely  prohibiting  the 
possession  of  intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage 
purposes. 

Sir  Charles  Cheeks  Wakefield,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  England,  is  quoted  as  say- 
ing, in  effect,  that  the  recent  anti-liquor  legis- 
lation of  England  has  made  people  sober  and 
that  teetotalism  can  be  legislated  into  people. 
Upon  the  well  recognized  evil  of  individ- 
ual consumption  of  liquor  as  a  beverage  rests 
the  right  of  the  state,  under  its  reserve  police 
power,  to  enact  legislation  prohibiting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors. 
And  in  trying  to  comprehend  the  legislative 
purpose  in  prohibition  statutes  it  is  important 
to  remember  that  the  ultimate  end  sought  in 
such  legislation  is  not  the  prevention  or  re- 
striction of  the  mere  sale  of  intoxicants,  but 

22 


WHEN   A   STATE  GOES   DRY 

the  prevention  of  their  consumption  as  bev- 
erages. The  sale  being  the  most  usual  and 
obvious  means  by  which  drinking  is  accom- 
plished, legislation  is  more  often  directed 
against  such  sales.  The  evil  of  individual  con- 
sumption of  intoxicating  liquors  as  beverages 
has  been  fully  recognized  and  expressed  by  the 
courts,  state  and  Federal,  including  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

Inebriety  is  a  disease,  and  a  predisposition 
to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  may  be  inher- 
ited. The  man  addicted  to  strong  drink  may 
become  the  slave  to  strong  drink;  and,  unless 
he  arouses  himself  and  strikes  for  freedom 
before  it  is  too  late,  he  may  die  the  slave  of  the 
master  Drink.  It  is  not  contended  that  law 
will  take  away  predisposition,  nor  that  it  will 
take  away  acquired  thirst,  nor  that  it  will  au- 
tomatically change  the  habits  of  men.  The 
law,  however,  may  be  the  buffer  between  the 
man  of  inherited  predisposition  and  his  weak- 
ness: The  law  may  be  the  bulwark  between 
the  man  and  his  habit.  And  the  law  may  en- 
able the  slave  to  escape  before  the  master  has 
bound  him  hand  and  foot.  And  above  all,  the 
law  will  save,  or  tend  to  save,  the  youths  from 
the  drink  habit  and  from  becoming  victims  of 
this  monstrous  evil. 

There  is   a   class    of   respectable    citizens 
23 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

who  do  not  comprehend,  or  will  not  compre- 
hend, the  ultimate  end  of  legislative  purposes 
in  prohibition  statutes.  Persons  of  this  class 
approve  prosecution  of  bootleggers  and  dive- 
keepers,  and  do  not  patronize  them,  but  yet  the 
persons  of  this  class  are  more  responsible  for 
the  bootlegger  and  the  divekeeper  than  per- 
sons of  any  other  class.  Here  is  an  anomaly 
that  should  be  analyzed.  This  class  insists 
that  it  should  be  exempt  from  the  ultimate 
end  of  the  law,  but  that  the  weak,  the  inebriate, 
the  drunkard,  the  vicious  and  the  impecunious, 
as  well  as  the  community,  should  be  protected 
against  the  evils  and  suffering  arising  from 
intoxicating  beverages.  Therefore  this  class 
insists  that  it  must  not  be  denied  intoxicating 
liquors  as  beverages  nor  an  easy  and  conve- 
nient way  to  procure  the  same.  The  influence 
of  this  class  is  reflected  partly  in  the  compro- 
mise of  legislation.  Now  the  weak,  the  inebri- 
ate, the  drunkard,  the  vicious  and  the  impecuni- 
ous do  not  and  cannot  see  the  distinction 
sought  to  be  made  by  the  class  referred  to,  for, 
to  their  minds,  if  any  one  class  in  the  commu- 
nity has  the  right  to  procure  intoxicating 
liquors  for  beverage  purposes,  then  all  classes 
of  persons  should  have  the  same  right. 

How    do    the    bootlegger    and    the    dive- 
keeper  procure  intoxicating  liquors  in  a  "dry" 

24 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

state?  In  the  same  way  provided  by  law  for 
the  respectable  class  mentioned  to  obtain  in- 
toxicants. For  what  purpose  do  the  bootleg- 
ger and  the  dive-keeper  claim  they  have  and 
possess  intoxicating  liquors?  For  the  same 
purpose  claimed  by  the  class  referred  to.  The 
so-called  respectable  class  is  the  screen  behind 
which  hide  the  bootlegger  and  the  dive-keeper! 
This  class  is  the  excuse  of  the  inebriate  and  the 
drunkard,  and  the  cause  of  the  bootlegger  and 
the  divekeeper.  Without  this  class,  the  boot- 
legger and  the  divekeeper  could  not  and  would 
not  exist;  for  no  statute  would  be  enacted  giv- 
ing the  bootlegger  and  the  divekeeper  a  single 
defense — yet  the  defense  of  the  bootlegger  and 
the  dive-keeper  is  the  claim  of  this  class  of  re- 
spectable citizens. 

There  is  in  our  day  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  some  to  set  up  a  double  standard  re- 
specting the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
laws.  In  other  words,  this  tendency  mani- 
fests itself  in  a  desire  to  have  and  observe  such 
laws  as  suits  one's  personal  notions  and  inter- 
ests, and  to  disregard  and  violate  such  laws  as 
do  not  suit  one's  personal  notions  and  inter- 
ests. Such  disposition  on  the  part  of  citizens 
of  standing  and  influence  brings,  or  tends  to 
bring,  all  laws  into  contempt.  Violation  of 
laws  by  the  professional  criminal  does  not 

25 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

bring  the  law  into  contempt.  Laws  have  never 
been  destroyed  by  the  professional  criminal! 

There  is  a  growing  class  in  this  country  that 
has  no  respect  for  laws  which  protect  home, 
family  and  property.  The  conduct  of  the  re- 
spectable citizen,  even  his  passive  conduct,  that 
brings  any  one  law  into  contempt,  encourages 
the  lawless  class  to  bring  all  laws  into  con- 
tempt. 

Again:  Keeping  in  mind  that  a  "dry" 
state  must  build  anew  from  the  "wreckage" 
left  the  state  by  the  saloon,  it  is  necessary  that 
adequate  provision  be  made  to  remove  officials 
who  will  not  enforce  the  law.  In  the  very  na- 
ture of  things  there  will  be  officers  of  the  law, 
parts  of  the  "wreckage,"  who  are  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  enforcement.  On  the  contrary, 
they  are  opposed  to  enforcement.  Sometimes 
such  officers  are  creatures  of  the  professional 
grafting  politician,  the  politician  who  profits 
by  non-enforcement.  The  decent,  law-abiding 
citizenship  is  more  or  less  helpless,  unless  pro- 
vision of  law  is  made  for  the  speedy  removal 
of  such  objectionable  officers.  Besides,  an  ade- 
quate provision  for  removal  in  the  hands  of 
the  law-respecting  citizenship  has  aj  whole- 
some effect  on  the  indifferent,  if  not  worse,  offi- 
cers of  the  law. 

26 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Legislation  can  be  perfected  only  by 
amendments  made  from  time  to  time — amend- 
ments based  on  experience.  Human  foresight 
does  not  grasp  all  requirements  necessary  to 
prevent  abuse  and  possibly  the  defeat  of  the 
public  policy  desired. 

Legislators  may  even  hesitate  to  enact 
necessary  and  effective  laws  for  fear  of  consti- 
tutional questions  involved.  And  frequently 
"constitutional  questions"  may  be  urged  by 
some  legislators  as  excuses  for  their  conduct 
rather  than  as  their  honest  convictions.  There- 
fore, step  by  step  only  can  legislation  be  en- 
larged and  made  duly  effective  as  the  courts 
slowly  clear  away  constitutional  doubt  and 
legislators  make  effective  the  will  of  the  people. 
The  following  language  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  a  recent  opinion, 
is  apropos  to  the  general  subject  of  this  chap- 
ter: 

"Against  that  conservatism  of  mind 
which  puts  to  question  every  new  act  of 
regulating  legislation,  and  regards  the 
legislation  invalid  or  dangerous  until  it 
has  become  familiar,  government — state 
and  national — has  pressed  on  in  the  gen- 
eral welfare;  and  our  reports  are  full  of 
cases  where  in  instance  after  instance  the 
exercise  of  regulation  was  resisted  and  yet 

27 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

sustained  against  attacks  asserted  to  be 
justified  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  dread  of  the  moment  having 
passed,  no  one  is  now  heard  to  say  that 
rights  were  restrained  or  their  constitu- 
tional guaranties  impaired/'* 


insurance  Co.  v.   Lewis,   233  U.   S.  389-409. 

28 


CHAPTER  V. 
Education 


/  /  "TT  UST  so  long  as  the  people  of  a  'dry' 
state  take  an  interest  in  the  prohibi- 
tory law  of  the  'dry'  state  and  its  en- 
forcement, such  law  can  be  enforced." 
In  substance,  these  were  the  words  of  a  high 
official  of  The  Model  License  League  to  an 
executive  official  of  a  "dry"  state.  The  official 
of  the  Model  License  League  further  observed 
that  frequently  the  people  of  the  "dry"  state, 
after  the  enactment  of  a  prohibitory  law,  cease 
to  take  a  personal,  active  interest  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  prohibitory  law — that  they 
turn  their  attention  to  other  things,  and  that 
sooner  or  later  the  liquor  forces  come  back 
into  power,  adding:  "  'A  new  broom  sweeps 
clean' — but  the  new  broom  wears  out — be- 
comes an  old  broom." 

There  is  a  truth  in  the  observations  of  the 
official  of  the  Model  License  League — a  truth 
that  must  not  be  ignored.  Much  of  the  failure 
to  enforce  prohibitory  laws  lies  in  the  very  psy- 
chology of  the  observations  referred  to.  Until 
the  nation  is  a  "dry"  nation,  no  state  can  suc- 

29 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

cessfully  enforce  a  state  prohibitory  law  with- 
out recognition  of  this  psychological  truth. 

There  must  be  education — education  in 
the  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  in  this 
chapter.  There  are  two  steps  in  every  effort 
to  make  a  state  "dry."  First,  the  agitation 
(which,  of  course,  embraces  education  in  its 
usual  sense)  that  leads  to  the  enactment  of  the 
prohibitory  law:  Second,  the  enforcement  of 
such  law.  Many  seem  to  think,  when  the  first 
step  has  been  accomplished  that  the  battle  is 
over.  What  a  mistake!  When  the  first  step 
is  accomplished  the  battle  is  just  well  begun. 
Remember  the  Wreckage  left  to  society  by  the 
outlawed  saloon;  remember  that  class  of  poli- 
ticians— not  the  statesmen — which  the  out- 
lawed saloon  created,  and  left  to  the  state;  re- 
member that  class  of  citizens,  the  screen  of  the 
bootlegger  and  the  divekeeper! 

So  many  good,  well-meaning  people — 
people  who  really  believe  in  and  desire  en- 
forcement of  prohibitory  laws — when  appeals 
are  made  to  them  for  support  of  such  laws  and 
their  enforcement,  exclaim:  "Isn't  that  ques- 
tion settled — why  any^  further  discussion  of 
the  question  or  further  effort  in  respect  to  the 
question?"  So  many  of  the  politicians — not 
statesmen — exclaim,  "Isn't  the  question  set- 
tled?"— "Why  any  party  action  or  party  ex- 

30 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

pression  on  the  subject?" — "Why  in  any  way 
embarrass  the  party  by  any  affirmative  posi- 
tion on  the  subject?" 

Let  the  question  be  looked  at  from  a  sensi- 
ble, practical  viewpoint.  The  "dry"  state  may 
be,  probably  is,  surrounded  by  "wet"  states — 
at  least  the  "dry"  state  has  "wet"  neighbors. 
In  the  "wet"  states  a  business  is  legalized 
which  is  outlawed  in  the  "dry"  state.  Millions 
of  dollars  may  be  invested  in  the  business  in 
the  "wet"  states.  The  business,  with  such  cap- 
ital, being  legalized  in  the  "wet"  states,  not 
only  desires  to  hold  its  own  where  it  is  legal- 
ized, but  to  expand.  It  not  only  desires  but 
intends  to  do  business  in  the  "dry"  state  if  pos- 
sible to  do  so  in  that  state.  Then  again,  there 
is  profit  in  the  business  wherever  it  can  be  con- 
ducted, and  therefore  there  is  gain  to  the  busi- 
ness if  it  can  be  carried  on  in  the  "dry"  state. 

Moreover,  the  business  does  not  propose 
that  a  "dry"  state  shall  succeed  as  such  if  suc- 
cess can  be  prevented — for  the  reason  that  suc- 
cessful enforcement  in  a  "dry"  state  tends  to 
further  agitation  and  eventually  the  making 
of  the  "wet"  state  into  a  "dry"  state.  There- 
fore, from  the  viewpoint  of  the  business,  the 
law  of  self-preservation  is  present. 

Then  there  are  the  slaves  of  the  master 
Drink  in  the  "dry"  state,  as  well  as  the  sympa- 

31 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

thizers  with  the  business,  although  the  sympa- 
thizers may  not  be  slaves  to  the  master  Drink 
— yet  both  classes  will  make  more  difficult  the 
enforcement  of  the  law  in  the  "dry"  territory. 
So  the  saloon  seeks  to  operate  for  the  profit  to 
itself,  and  the  slaves  feel  the  drawing  chains  of 
the  master  Drink! 

Analyze  it  any  way  you  will,  there  are  two 
main  propositions  to  the  whole  matter — the 
commercial  factor  as  to  the  man  who  sells — 
who  wants  money  for  his  liquors  to  satisfy  his 
craving  for  money — and  the  man  who  buys — 
the  man  who  wants  liquors  for  his  money  to 
satisfy  his  craving  for  liquor. 

There  are  many  politicians,  as  contradis- 
tinguished from  statesmen,  who  are  honest 
and  patriotic.  There  is,  however,  a  class  of 
politicians  neither  honest  nor  patriotic.  This 
class  really  cares  nothing  for  party  principles 
nor  ideals  of  government.  The  members  of 
this  class  are  pirates  on  the  political  seas,  sail- 
ing first  under  one  and  then  under  another 
flag  of  respectable  political  organizations,  affil- 
iating with  the  party  that  for  the  moment  suits 
the  particular  purposes  of  the  class.  The  sa- 
loon, wherever  it  exists,  as  a  rule  has  many  of 
these  pirates  for  its  own  use,  and  the  driving 
of  the  saloon  from  the  state  does  not  imme- 
diately rid  the  state  of  such  pirates.  The  politi- 

32 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

cians  of  this  class  may  be  holders  of  public  of- 
fice. Usually  they  are  not,  but  prefer  to  "con- 
trol" such  officeholders  as  the  saloon  needs;  or 
they  prefer  to  "control"  such  party  machinery 
as  the  saloon  needs;  or  they  prefer  to  "deliver" 
such  votes  as  the  saloon  needs.  There  is  a 
price,  of  course,  from  the  saloon  to  such  politi- 
cians. 

As  hereinbefore  stated,  the  driving  out  of 
the  saloon  does  not  immediately  rid  the  state 
of  this  class  of  politicians.  The  brazen  effront- 
ery of  the  saloon  through  such  politicians  to 
control  parties  and  dominate  legislatures  and 
municipalities  has  been  one  of  the  elements 
leading  to  the  outlawry  of  the  saloon  by  the 
outraged  people  of  a  state  or  a  community. 
This  class  of  politicians,  however5  is  left  to  a 
state  when  the  saloon  has  been  driven  out  of  it. 
Is  such  a  class  immediately  regenerated?  No! 
Their  willingness  to  serve  the  outlawed  saloon, 
legalized  elsewhere,  is  so  pronounced  that  in 
some  cases  they  are  unwilling  to  earn  an  hon- 
est living  by  an  honest  day's  work.  This  class 
desires  the  return  of  the  former  days,  and  is 
active,  so  far  as  it  is  expedient  to  be  active,  to 
bring  about  the  return  of  former  conditions. 
Therefore,  efforts  are  made  to  weaken  the  laws, 
if  the  laws  are  strong.  Perhaps  such  efforts 
to  obstruct  law  enforcement  are  not  made 

33 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

openly  at  first,  but  are  carried  on  by  insidious 
processes,  by  ingenious  modifications  and 
amendments  to  the  law.  Efforts  are  made  to 
select  candidates  for  the  legislature  who  will 
weaken  the  law,  or  at  best,  not  strengthen  the 
law  in  the  weak  places.  Efforts  are  also  made 
to  bring  about  the  nomination  and  election  of 
indifferent,  if  not  subservient,  candidates  for 
public  prosecutors  and  municipal  mayors,  etc. 
Subtle  influences  are  set  to  work  to  develop 
adverse  sentiment.  To  illustrate:  If  the  laws 
are  not  vigorously  enforced,  then  there  is  an  ef- 
fort to  develop  sentiment  that  the  law  is  impos- 
sible of  enforcement,  and  that  conditions  are 
worse  under  the  "dry"  law  than  with  the  sa- 
loon. On  the  other  hand,  if  the  laws  are  vigor- 
ously and  successfully  enforced  ,then  the  effort 
is  made  to  develop  sentiment  that  enforcement 
is  too  drastic  and  unreasonable.  Other  elements 
could  be  mentioned,  if  the  limits  of  this  discus- 
sion permitted.  It  is  hoped,  however,  enough 
has  been  said  to  suggest  the  idea  of  this  chap- 
ter. 

To  meet  the  active  forces  of  the  outside 
business  as  well  as  internal  factors,  the  forces 
of  law  enforcement  must  be  ever  active — posi- 
tively active.  The  work  of  education  must  go 
on  with  the  measures  of  enforcement  men- 
tioned in  the  succeeding  chapter. 

34 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Let  this  be  remembered:  Ordinarily  when 
a  state,  either  by  organic  or  statutory  provi- 
sion, declares  its  public  policy  as  to  any  moral, 
economic  or  political  question,  such  policy  is 
accepted,  respected  and  observed.  Such  is  not 
true,  however,  respecting  the  state's  prohibi- 
tory provisions,  in  regard  to  intoxicating  liq- 
uors. 

When  a  state  declares  her  policy  upon  the 
subject  of  intoxicating  liquors,  there  is,  as  a 
rule,  an  organized  and  well-defined  opposition 
thereto  with  a  determination  to  break  down 
that  public  policy.  Therefore,  if  the  citizens 
who  are  favorable  to  prohibition  are  not  alert 
and  active  to  meet  this  organized  and  financed 
opposition,  enforcement  of  such  policy  is  very 
much  embarrassed,  if  not  ultimately  defeated. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  citizenship  of  a  state 
standing  for  its  public  policy,  and  fearlessly 
asserting  its  rights  and  desires,  can  be  and  is 
supreme.  It  should  never  be  said  that  the  forces 
of  righteousness  and  moral  uplift  in  this  land 
can  be  over-run  by  the  forces  that  tend  to  de- 
stroy men  and  break  down  high  ideals  of  the 
people. 

Illustrative  of  the  effect  of  education,  in 
regard  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  is  the 
experience  of  the  state  of  West  Virginia.  The 
legislature  in  1887  submitted  to  the  people  of 

35 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

the  state  a  vote  upon  state-wide  prohibition. 
In  1888,  at  the  general  election,  the  people  re- 
jected the  proposition,  only  three  counties  in 
the  state  voting  in  favor  of  ratification.  In 
1911  the  legislature  submitted  the  same  ques- 
tion to  the  people  of  the  state.  At  the  general 
election  in  1912  the  proposed  amendment  was 
ratified,  only  three  counties  in  the  state  voting 
against  the  proposition — a  complete  change  in 
sentiment. 

There  is  this  coincidence:  The  same  leg- 
islature which  submitted  the  question  to  the 
people  of  the  state  in  1887  enacted  a  law  read- 
ing as  follows:  "That  the  nature  of  alcoholic 
drinks  and  narcotics,  and  special  instruction  as 
to  their  effects  upon  the  human  system,  in  con- 
nection with  the  several  subjects  of  physiology 
and  hygiene,  shall  be  included  in  the  branches 
of  study  taught  in  the  common  and  public 
schools,  and  shall  be  taught  as  thoroughly  and 
in  the  same  manner  as  other  like  required 
branches  are  in  said  schools,  to  all  pupils  in 
said  schools  throughout  the  state." 

The  effect  of  this  legislation — the  educa- 
tion of  the  youth  respecting  the  effects  of  alco- 
holic liquors — was  seen  in  the  election  of  1912. 
The  credit  for  the  aforesaid  provision  of  law 
belongs  to  the  women  of  West  Virginia. 
Through  the  efforts  of  their  organization,  the 

36 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  such 
legislation  was  enacted. 

Upon  the  church  and  upon  such  organiza- 
tions as  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  the  Anti-Saloon  League,  and  kindred 
organizations,  rests  much  of  the  work  of  edu- 
cation. 


37 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Law  Enforcement 


ENFORCEMENT  of  a  prohibitory  law 
admits  of  no  compromise.     To  com- 
promise merely   means   to    drive   out 
one     devil     and   presently    find    that 
seven   have    taken  his    place.     The   preceding 
sentence  is  not  intended  for  application  in  a 
personal  sense,  but  is  a  statement  of  a  psycho- 
logical truth. 

The  best  way  to  vindicate  and  establish  a 
new  law,  if  the  law  is  for  the  best  interest  of 
society,  is  to  enforce  such  law.  The  most  cer- 
tain way  to  repeal  a  bad  law  is  to  enforce  such 
law.  For,  most  certainly  if  the  law  is  good 
for  the  people  of  a  state,  it  will  not  be  repealed 
— if  enforced.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  law  is 
not  good  for  the  people  of  a  state,  but  bad,  it 
most  certainly  will  be  repealed  if  enforced. 

True,  there  are  persons  who  express  the 
fear  that  strict  enforcement  of  a  prohibitory 
law  may  lead  to  repeal  of  the  law.  Those,  how- 
ever, who  believe  in  such  law  should  be  willing 
to  put  the  law  to  the  supreme  test.  Besides, 
such  a  law  should  be  enforced,  not  merely  be- 
cause it  is  a  prohibitory  law,  but  because  it  is 

part  of  the  law. 

38 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

A  prohibitory  law,  like  all  other  laws, 
should  be  enforced  according  to  the  spirit, 
rather  than  the  letter  of  the  law:  Always  keep- 
ing in  view  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  law — the 
prevention  of  the  consumption  of  intoxicating 
liquors  as  beverages.  On  this  question  of  the 
ultimate  end  of  the  law  there  can  be  no  com- 
promise. 

The  seller  of  liquors  will  give  no  recogni- 
tion to  this  aim  of  the  law.  When  he  does  give 
such  recognition,  the  end  of  his  business  is  in 
sight.  Many  men  who  have  acquired  the  liquor 
habit  recognize  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  law 
and  welcome  the  law  and  its  enforcement  as  a 
barrier  between  them  and  their  habit.  Such 
men  will  not  be  consumers  if  the  law  can  be 
made  a  bulwark  against  their  own  weakness. 
Experience  in  West  Virginia,  under  constitu- 
tional and  statutory  prohibition,  has  demon- 
strated this  statement  beyond  any  question. 
Therefore  the  first  object  in  enforcement,  rec- 
ognizing the  ultimate  end  of  the  law,  was  to 
make  effective  the  provisions  of  the  law  against 
the  easy  possession  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and 
the  prevention  of  advertisements  suggesting 
their  use.  In  the  state  above  mentioned,  the 
courts  so  far  have  sustained  the  contentions 
of  the  state  against  deliveries  of  liquors  as 
freight  or  express,  and  the  advertisements 

39 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

in    the   state   by   non-resident   liquor   dealers. 

Many  men  who,  at  first,  protested  against 
such  theory  and  method  of  enforcement,  have 
since  expressed  their  gratitude;  by  reason  of 
such  enforcement  they  have  "come  to  them- 
selves." They  have  learned  from  experience 
that  they  can  do  without  intoxicating  liquors, 
although  at  first  they  believed  they  could  not: 
And  they  have  found  within  themselves  a 
growing  freedom  from  their  own  habit,  result- 
ing in  greater  efficiency  in  their  work  and  in- 
creased savings  of  their  means. 

The  enforcement  of  the  prohibitory  law 
sets  at  work  certain  natural  laws  within  the 
individual  and  within  society  itself.  For  illus- 
trations, the  following  experiences  are  men- 
tioned of  two  men  whose  names  can  be  given — 
men  of  entirely  different  stations  in  life — yet 
the  working  of  the  law  has  been  to  the  same 
end. 

The  first:  He  was  of  mature  years;  of 
high  professional  and  social  standing;  he  lived 
in  a  community  largely  given  to  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  and  a  community  largely 
opposed  to  constitutional  prohibition.  For 
years  intoxicating  liquors  had  been  part  of  his 
mid-day  and  evening  meals.  Probably  he 
never  was  intoxicated,  but  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  was  his  daily  habit.  He  was  op- 

40 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

posed  to  constitutional  prohibition,  and  be- 
lieved it  impractical,  unenforceable  and  that  it 
would  deprive  him  of  his  personal  liberty  and 
his  natural  rights.  He  earnestly  endeavored 
to  modify  the  laws  proposed  to  make  effective 
the  constitutional  provision.  When  the  state 
became  "dry"  he  would  go  to  a  neighboring 
"wet"  state,  buy  intoxicating  liquors  and  carry 
them  to  his  home.  After  a  while  he  began  to 
reason  with  himself  in  this  wise:  "Those  who 
do  not  know  me  and  who  see  me  carrying  in- 
toxicating liquors  into  my  state  do  not  draw 
any  distinction  between  me  and  persons  who 
carry  liquors  into  my  state  for  unlawful  pur- 
poses— in  the  eyes  of  the  stranger  I  am  in  the 
same  river,  if  not  the  same  boat,  as  the  bootleg- 
ger and  the  divekeeper.  I  am  finding  that  I 
can  do  without  intoxicating  liquors.  I  do  not 
say  that  I  will  quit  the  use  thereof,  but  I  do 
find  that  the  desire  for  liquors  is  decreasing." 

Later  on  he  reasoned  with  himself  in  this 
wise:  "My  profession  requires  me  to  test  my 
strength  and  skill  and  knowledge  against  that 
of  others  of  the  same  profession.  There  are 
those  of  my  profession  who  are  not  using  in- 
toxicating liquors.  I  know  enough  of  the  ef- 
fects of  intoxicating  liquors  to  realize  that  a 
certain  quantity  consumed  at  intervals  de- 

41 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

stroys  my  efficiency.  Do  not  the  amounts  that 
I  consume  tend  to  destroy  my  efficiency,  al- 
though I  may  be  unaware  of  the  loss  of  effi- 
ciency? One  of  my  professional  brethren,  in 
particular,  who  is  rapidly  gaining  standing  in 
my  profession,  is  a  total  abstainer.  He  is  not 
impairing  his  efficiency  as  I  may  be  impairing 
mine.  I  shall  not  further  destroy  my  efficiency. 
I  will  quit  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors." 

Yet,  two  years  before,  no  man  in  the  state 
was  more  sincerely  pronounced  in  his  opposi- 
tion to  prohibition  than  he.  At  that  time  he 
could  not  have  been  convinced  that  he  could 
change  his  mind  or  would  reach  the  conclusion 
that  he  has  now  reached.  The  change  that 
came  to  him  was  the  result  of  the  working  of 
natural  laws — natural  laws  set  in  motion  by 
reason  of  the  difficulties  he  experienced  in  pro- 
curing intoxicating  liquors — and  thus  "he 
came  to  himself." 

The  second:  He  was  a  down-and-out — 
the  town  drunkard.  His  clothes  and  physical 
appearance  were  in  keeping  with  the  man  who 
had  spent  his  all  for  drink — a  man  of  abandon 
— a  man  dead  and  yet  alive  in  a  living  world! 
His  wife — ill  and  weary,  by  drudgery  earned 
the  scanty  means  for  their  meager  mainte- 
nance, and  paid  the  rent  for  their  humble  home. 

42 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

The  very  same  society  that  trafficked  the  man's 
soul  for  revenue,  the  very  same  society  that 
"     *     *     *     did  not  know  why 
And  did  not  understand — " 
pitied  them — yet,    to   that   same  society    they 
were  parts  of  an  unfortunate  class. 

Two  years  have  passed.  The  man  is  now 
working  at  the  carpenter's  bench — for  he  is  a 
skilled  carpenter.  He  "came  to  himself."  For 
the  wife,  the  smile  has  returned  to  her  face  and 
the  music  to  her  soul !  Sunshine  fills  the  little 
cottage  that  they  have  good  reasons  to  believe 
some  day  shall  be  their  own — HOME. 

The  foregoing  illustrations  are  not  over- 
drawn. On  the  contrary,  extreme  caution  has 
been  used.  The  experiences  of  the  persons  re- 
ferred to  are  far  larger  than  stated  in  the  nar- 
rative. And  in  all  candor,  these  two  instances 
are  only  illustrations  of  scores  of  others  of  like 
general  experience. 

Then  there  are  the  bootlegger  and  the 
divekeeper.  They  must  be  prosecuted  in  the 
courts.  The  general  public  lays  more  emphasis 
on  the  prosecution  of  the  bootlegger  and  dive- 
keeper  than  on  other  phases  of  enforcement.  It 
is  natural  that  the  general  public  should  and 
does  lay  such  emphasis — and  it  also  is  well  that 
the  general  public  does  so.  Such  public  prose- 

43 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

cution  is  the  visible,  tangible  evidence  of  en- 
forcement. 

There  must  be  no  compromise  in  the  prose- 
cution of  bootleggers  and  divekeepers.  Yet  it 
must  be  kept  in  mind  that  such  prosecutions 
are  not  the  "all  in  all"  work  to  be  done.  The 
larger  work  is  to  close  the  way  by  which  the 
bootlegger  and  the  divekeeper  obtain  their  sup- 
plies. 

The  more,  difficulty  the  bootlegger  and  the 
divekeeper  experience  in  obtaining  their  sup- 
plies, the  fewer  the  offenses  committed  by 
them.  No  provision  is  made  by  law  for  the 
bootlegger  to  obtain  his  supplies :  The  boot- 
legger does  not  endeavor  to  secure  legislation 
favorable  to  himself  and  favorable  to  his  busi- 
ness. The  bootlegger  depends  upon  that  re- 
spectable class  of  citizens  that  endeavors  to  se- 
cure an  easy  method  of  obtaining  intoxicating 
liquors  for  beverage  purposes,  to  secure  for 
himself  the  favorable  legislation  needed  by  the 
bootlegger  in  his  unlawful  business. 

The  man  who  insists  that  laws  must  be 
enforced  by  enforcing  officers,  and  that  the 
laws  must  be  respected  by  the  lawless  element, 
has  a  greater  part  in  enforcement  of  law  by  the 
officer,  and  respect  for  the  law  by  the  lawless, 
than  he  may  at  first  realize.  This  statement 
does  not  apply  simply  to  prohibition  laws — the 

44 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

statement  applies  to  all  laws.  For,  the  man 
greedy  for  gain  who,  by  so-called  refined  meth- 
ods, robs  others,  need  not  wonder  that  the 
thief,  in  the  usual  way  of  a  thief,  steals  from 
him. 

Again,  this  illustration.  A  refined  draw- 
ing-room: A  small  number  of  good  women, 
high  in  the  social  life  of  the  community.  They 
are  discussing  common  acquaintances — a  wid- 
ow and  her  only  son.  The  son  has  been  a 
heavy  drinker  for  many  years.  He  adds  this 
unfortunate  habit  to  the  sorrows  of  his  wid- 
owed mother.  These  good  women  condemn 
the  bootlegger  who  furnishes  liquor  to  the  son. 
They  censure  the  officers  of  the  law  because 
the  officers  have  not  been  able  to  prevent  the 
bootlegger  from  furnishing  liquors  to  the  son. 

If  one  were  to  charge  these  good  women 
with  being  largely  responsible  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  bootlegger  and  the  drinking  son, 
they  would,  in  great  surprise,  indignantly 
deny  the  charge.  And  yet,  they  are 
largely  responsible  for  the  existence  of 
the  bootlegger  and  the  drinking  son. 
Do  not  these  good  women  and  their  husbands 
serve  intoxicating  liquors  in  their  homes?  Do 
they  not  regard  any  law  as  too  drastic  that  in- 
terferes with  their  desire  and  convenient  way 
of  procuring  intoxicating  liquors  for  beverage 

45 


WHEN    A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

purposes  in  their  homes?  And  does  not  the 
bootlegger  obtain  his  supplies  in  the  same  way 
in  which  they  procure  theirs?  Is  there  any 
distinction  in  the  mind  of  the  drinking  son  be- 
tween the  right  of  these  good  women  and  their 
husbands  to  drink,  and  his  right  to  drink  in- 
toxicating liquors?  If  one  has  the  right,  he 
reasons,  has  not  the  other  also? 


In  a  limited  way,  in  this  and  other  chapters 
it  has  been  and  will  be  attempted  to  suggest 
some  of  the  different  conditions  and  elements 
met  and  that  must  be  met  in  the  enforcement 
of  a  prohibition  law.  Until  the  Wreckage  has 
been  cleared  away  and  new  conditions  devel- 
oped, it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  state 
maintain  a  department  to  enforce  its  prohibi- 
tory laws.  As  already  pointed  out  there  is  a 
highly  capitalized,  organized  and  legalized 
business inother  states  seeking  and  determined 
to;  do  business  in  the  "dry"  state,  notwith- 
standing that  the  business  is  illegal  in  the 
"dry"  state.  The  saloons,  driven  from  the 
"dry"  state,  have  left  their  Wreckage  in  that 
state.  The  work  of  enforcement  does  not  lie 
alone  in  the  prosecution  of  the  bootlegger  and 
the  divekeeper — such  prosecution  is  one  of  the 
incidentals.  Necessary  legislation  must  be 
had;  and  when  effective  legislation  is1  had, 

46 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

such  legislation  is  certain  to  be  attacked,  and 
must  therefore  be  defended  in  the  courts. 

Public  sentiment  must  be  maintained  and 
strengthened.  The  work  of  education  must  be 
pressed  at  all  times.  The  liquor  interests  are 
ever  active  to  educate  the  public  mind  to  be- 
lieve that  prohibition  is  impracticable  and  that 
conditions  under  prohibition  are  worse  than 
conditions  under  high  license  and  regulation. 
To  meet  hostile  forces,  to  press  prosecutions, 
to  assemble  and  publish  statistics,  to  awaken 
and  maintain  public  sentiment,  to  shape  and 
defend  legislation,  to  educate  the  public  mind 
that  prohibition  is  not  impracticable  and  that 
prohibition  has  its  benefits  for  society,  is  a 
work  of  such  magnitude  that  it  may  well  en- 
gage the  whole  time  and  energies  of  a  special 
department  for  the  enforcement  of  a  prohibi- 
tion law. 


47 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Majesty  of  the  Law 


THE  growth  and  development  of  law, 
with  its  accompanying  struggles  and 
pains,  as  recited  in  a  preceding  chap- 
ter, ought  to  make  it  something  to  be 
respected  in  a  degree  not  much  short  of  rever- 
ence.    Especially  should  this  be  true  in  this 
land  of  ours  which  is  one  of  constitutions  and 
laws  formulated  by  a  majority  of  the  people 
through  their  representatives. 

In  the  abstract  a  law  is  not  something 
which  a  certain  number  of  men  in  a  legislative 
body  say  shall  be  a  rule  by  which  society  is  to 
be  governed,  but  it  is  the  embodiment  or  crys- 
tallization after  a  time  of  what  certain  units  of 
society  have  been  thinking  about  through  a 
course  of  years  until  a  majority  of  such  units 
decided  that  such  shall  be  the  rule  or  law  by 
which  society  is  to  be  regulated  in  a  given  par- 
ticular. Therefore,  all  persons  in  a  country 
such  as  this,  where  majority  rule  is  to  prevail, 
ought  to  respect  every  law  by  which  the  coun- 
try is  governed.  Every  one's  citizenship 
should  be  such  that  he  regards  law  as  supreme. 
The  majesty  of  law  should  be  taught  in  our 
homes  and  in  our  public  schools.  It  should  be 

48 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

emphasized  in  the  field,  on  the  street,  on  the 
platform,  in  the  public  forum,  at  the  bar,  in 
legislative  halls,  from  the  bench,  and  in  the 
pulpit.  Let  us  hope  that  our  people  will  be- 
come so  to  respect  the  majesty  of  the  law  that 
very  few  will  dare  to  profane  it  with  violation 
or  with  encouragement  or  sympathy  for  those 
who  do  violate  it. 

As  indicated  in  another  chapter,  there  is  a 
certain  tendency  to  disregard  law.  There  are 
those  who  seem  to  think  that  because  they  are 
not  in  favor  of  a  law,  they  themselves  are  sov- 
ereign and  that  the  law  should  not  be  applied 
to  them.  Such  persons  ought  to  realize  that 
though  they  are  in  the  minority  and  not  in 
favor  of  a  law,  yet  they  ought  to  obey  that  law, 
for  they  themselves  may  be  and  are  protected 
by  a  law  to  which  others  perhaps,  being  in  the 
minority,  are  opposed  and  which  these  others 
may  disregard.  Thus  one  person  by  disre- 
garding a  certain  law  weakens  the  protection 
which  another  law  gives  him.  This  disregard 
of  different  persons  for  different  laws  brings 
or  tends  to  bring  all  law  into  contempt.  This 
contempt  for  law  is  often  seen  to  flash  out  in 
resistance  to  official  authority,  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  property,  and  in  a  wanton  disregard  of 
the  rights  of  others,  even  including  the  right 
of  human  life ! 

49 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

The  law  in  silent  dignity  offers  protection 
to  all  and  he  who  dares  to  violate  its  majesty 
ought  to  hang  his  head  in  shame.  We  cannot 
seriously  claim  its  protection  if  we  do  not  re- 
spect this  majesty.  It  is  not  the  armed  watch- 
man that  protects  our  property;  it  is  not  the 
strong  barricade  that  protects  our  cattle  on  our 
many  hills — it  is  the  majesty  of  the  law!  It  is 
not  the  bolted  window  that  protects  us  at  night 
while  we  lie  wrapped  in  sleep — it  is  the  majesty 
of  the  law!  It  is  not  the  uniformed  officer  by 
our  side  that  shields  our  purse  from  the  robber 
and  our  person  from  the  vicious — it  is  the  maj- 
esty of  the  law!  Before  we  have  an  independ- 
ent being  and  while  our  lives  are  wrapped  with 
that  of  another,  the  law  shields  us  and  defends 
us!  When  we  come  helpless  into  the  world 
and  unable  to  defend  ourselves,  the  law  shields 
us  and  defends  us!  When  in  the  full  strength 
and  vigor  of  manhood  and  womanhood  we 
properly  pursue  our  way  among  our  fellow  be- 
ings and  gather  together  this  world's  goods, 
it  is  the  law  that  shields  us  and  defends  us! 
When  we  are  decrepit  and  the  hand  is  palsied 
with  ag-e,  the  law  shields  us  and  defends  us! 
And  when  we  have  fallen  asleep  and  been  gath- 
ered to  our  fathers,  in  the  solemn  watches  of 
the  night,  the  law,  the  vigil  keeps  and  shields 
and  defends  our  last  resting  place! 

50 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Municipalities 


"The  peril  of  the  republic  will  be  the  mis- 
government  of  its  great  cities." — Carlyle. 

The  saloon  will  make  its  last  stand  for  its 
last  fight  in  the  last  stronghold  of  the  saloon — 
the  city. 

HISTORY  teaches  that  the  decline  of 
the  world's  great  nations  began 
when  the  urban  population  became 
equal  to  the  rural  population.  The 
urban  population  of  the  United  States  is  now 
about  equal  to  the  rural.  Shall  this  nation  of 
ours  decline  and  perish  from  the  face  of  the 
earth?  The  statement  of  the  historical  fact 
and  the  submission  of  the  foregoing  question 
are  not  prompted  by  pessimism:  On  the  con- 
trary they  are  prompted  by  the  hope  that  the 
people  of  this  nation  will  profit  from  the  ex- 
periences of  other  nations,  and  protect  them- 
selves against  the  forces  which  destroyed  other 
peoples.  Nevertheless,  with  the  congestion  of 
population  in  municipalities  come  not  only  the 
congestion  of  crime,  but  also  the  conditions  to 

encourage  and  develop  crime  in  the  "geomet- 

51 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

rical  progression."  And  with  such  congestion 
come  the  conditions  which  destroy,  or  tend  to 
destroy,  society's  power  of  resistance  to  evil 
influences. 

Dr.  Richard  T.  Ely,  in  his  book,  "The 
Coming  City,"  states  that  the  percentage  of 
urban  population  in  the  United  States  in  1790, 
considering  only  places  containing  8,000  or 
more  inhabitants,  was  3.35  per  cent.  The  Fed- 
eral census  of  1910  shows  that  the  population 
of  the  United  States  (exclusive  of  possessions) 
was  91,972,266,  whereof  42,623,383,  or  46.3  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  population,  was  urban,  as  the 
census  reports  define  urban.  The  increase  in 
the  urban  population  during  the  preceding 
decade  was  5.8  per  cent.,  so  it  can  well  be  said 
that  the  urban  population  now  equals,  if  it  does 
not  exceed,  the  rural  population. 

Some  of  the  more  populous  states  are  be- 
yond—some far  beyond— the  equal  division  line. 
For  illustration,  the  following  states  in  1910 
had  urban  population,  as  follows:  Ohio,  55.9; 
Pennsylvania,  60.4;  Illinois,  61.7;  New  Jersey, 
75.2;  New  York,  78.8;  Connecticut,  89.7;  Mas- 
sachusetts, 92.8,  and  Rhode  Island,  96.7. 

Dr.  Ely,  in  his  book  above  mentioned,  has 
said: 

"The    twentieth-century  city   is   des- 
tined to  embrace  more  than  half  of  our 

52 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

population,  and  this  makes  its  government 
of  vital  significance  to  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  the  United  States,  and  indeed, 
in  the  entire  civilized  world.  The  frontiers- 
man in  the  far  West,  the  woodsman  in  the 
pine  forests  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin, 
the  miner  delving  in  the  bowels;  of  the 
earth  in  Pennsylvania,  Colorado,  and  far- 
away Alaska,  all  are  feeling,  and  will  feel 
still  more  forcefully,  the  influences  pro- 
ceeding from  the  character  of  our  great 
cities  as  truly  as  the  dweller  in  London, 
Paris,  Berlin,  or  New  York. 

"The  problem  of  the  city  is  the  prob- 
lem of  a  revolution — a  revolution  brought 
about  by  industrial  evolution,  if  you 
please.  Strangely  enough,  too,  it  involves 
in  some  particulars  a  return  to  the  condi- 
tions of  classical  antiquity.  When  we 
speak  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  we  use 
words  which  are  rural  in  their  primary 
significance.  We  say  this  country,  this 
land  of  ours,  whereas,  the  Athenians  said, 
this  city  of  ours — their  state  being  essen- 
tially a  city-state,  with  rural  districts, 
land  added  as  a  subordinate  part  of  the 
state,  ruled  from  the  city  as  a  centre.  We 
know  the  story  of  Cincinnatus,  called 
from  the  plough  to  the  conduct  of  govern- 

53 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

ment.  It  has  been  a  favorite  tale  with  us, 
because  it  has  been  typical  of  American 
life  in  the  past.  Rural  votes  have  con- 
trolled our  destinies,  and  men  from  the 
country  have  given  shape  to  our  national 
life.  But  we  are  entering  a  period  in 
which  men  from  the  city  are  certain  to 
have  an  increasing  influence  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  nation,  and  are  very  likely  to  be- 
come dominant.  *  *  *  It  is  not  possible 
to  foretell  what  changes  will  come  to  our 
country  as  a  result  of  the  increasing  in- 
fluence of  the  city-man,  but  they  are  bound 
to  be  momentous/' 

Some  of  the  conditions  arising  from  urban 
congestion,  respecting  crime,  maintenance  of 
peace  and  good  order,  detention  of  criminals, 
care  of  unfortunates  and  the  poor,  may  be  illus- 
trated as  follows: 

The  nine  cities  of  the  United  States  hav- 
ing a  population  of  500,000  and  over,  expend 
annually  an  aggregate  sum  of  $36,759,000  for 
police  departments;  $3,751,000  for  the  poor  in 
institutions;  $5,076,000  for  the  care  of  poor 
children;  $1,169,000  for  insane  hospitals;  $3,- 
457,000  for  corrective  institutions  for  adults; 
$903,000  for  corrective  institutions  for  minors, 
and  $1,483,000  for  out-door  relief  of  the  poor, 
a  total  annual  expenditure  for  such  purposes 

54 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

of  $52,598,000.  This  sum  is  substantially  the 
same  amount  expended  annually  by  the  states 
of  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Ohio 
and  Virginia  to  maintain  their  state  govern- 
ments and  state  institutions. 

The  total  expenditures  of  the  Fed- 
eral government  in  the  year  1813  was 
$39,190,000,  for  the  year  1814,  $38,028,230, 
and  for  the  year  1815,  $39,582,000. 
Such  expenditures  of  the  Federal  government 
included  the  salaries  of  the  president  and  other 
executives,  for  the  Congress,  the  Federal  judi- 
ciary, foreign  service,  military  service,  includ- 
ing fortifications,  arsenals,  armories,  ordnance, 
internal  improvements,  etc.,  the  navy,  pen- 
sions, Indian  Department,  and  interest  on  the 
public  debt.  And  it  will  be  remembered  these 
were  the  expenditures  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment during  the  three  years  of  the  last  war 
with  England.  And  it  will  be  observed  that 
such  annual  expenditures  were  less  than  the 
present  annual  expenditures  of  the  nine  cities 
referred  to  for  the  maintenance  of  police  de- 
partment and  the  taking  care  of  the  insane  and 
the  poor.  Moreover,  the  expenditures  for  the 
year  1813  were  $17,000,000  more  than  any 
previous  annual  expenditure  of  the  Federal 
government. 

The  total  annual  revenue  derived  from  the 
55 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

liquor  traffic  by  the  nine  cities  referred  to  is 
$20,117,974.  Yet  the  breeding  place  of  crime 
is  the  saloon!  The  greatest  single  cause  of  in- 
sanity is  alcohol !  the  first  source  of  poverty  is 
drink  and  all  that  drink  implies ! 

"By  the  general  concurrence  of  opinion 
of  every  civilized  and  Christian  commun- 
ity, there  are  few  sources  of  crime  and  mis- 
ery to  society  equal  to  the  dram  shop, 
where  intoxicating  liquors,  in  small  quan- 
tities, to  be  drunk  at  the  time,  are  sold  in- 
discriminately to  all  parties  applying.  The 
statistics  of  every  state  show  a  greater 
amount  of  crime  and  misery  attributable 
to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  obtained  at 
these  retail  liquor  saloons  than  to  any 
other  source.  *  *  *  It  is  not  necessary, 
for  the  sake  of  justifying  the  state  legisla- 
tion now  under  consideration,  to  array  the 
appalling  statistics  of  misery,  pauperism 
and  crime  which  have  their  origin  in  the 
use  or  abuse  of  ardent  spirits."* 

The  language  just  quoted  is  not  the  lan- 
guage of  "the  diseased  mind  of  a  narrow  re- 
former"— it  is  the  language  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States. 

The  foregoing  statistics  and  statements 

*Crowley  v.  Christensen,  137  U.  S.  86-90. 
Mugler  v.   Kansas.  123  U.   S.   623-658. 

56 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

are  given  for  the  single  purpose  of  suggesting 
to  the  reader  some  of  the  conditions  which 
exist  in,  and  some  of  the  problems  which  con- 
front the  city  of  to-day.  The  enormous  bur- 
dens carried  by  cities  to  protect  society  against 
the  lawless  and  vicious,  and  to  care  for  the  un- 
fortunates created  by  existing  conditions, 
should  cause  one*  to  consider  seriously  the 
present  situation. 

And  it  is  not  going  far  afield  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  present  municipal  problems  and 
conditions,  for  the  problems  and  the  condi- 
tions are  here  and  must  be  met  in  the  efforts 
to  enforce  law.  The  saloon  has  "dug  itself  in," 
and  in  many  cities  controls  the  police  depart- 
ments. In  some  cities  the  organization  of  the 
police  system  is  splendid  and  the  police  do  a 
great  public  service.  In  others  the  police  sys- 
tem is  not  only  incompetent  and  inefficient,  but 
is  the  protector  of  vice.  Open,  notorious, 
commercialized  gambling;  open,  notorious, 
segregated  districts  for  the  social  evil,  cannot 
exist  in  a  city  without  protection.  One  of  the 
dangers  of  the  police  system  as  it  is  now  or- 
ganized in  many  cities,  lies  in  this — that  the 
people  of  the  city  rest  in  security,  believing  that 
these  guardians  of  law  and  order  are  enforcing 
the  law  of  the  city,  while,  in  truth,  they  are  not 
enforcing  the  law.  Further  statements  along 

57 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

this  line  will  be  made  in  the  following  chapter 
on  "Invisible  Government."  Of  all  of  the  forms 
of  entrenched  vice  in  a  city,  none  has  a  stronger 
hold  on  the  police  system  of  the  average  city 
than  the  saloon. 

Not  only  does  the  liquor  traffic  have  a 
strangle-hold  upon  the  police  system  of  the 
average  city,  but  it  sometimes  has  a  strangle- 
hold upon  legislative  bodies  of  cities.  Experi- 
ence teaches  that  when  a  state  becomes  "dry," 
earnest  efforts  to  enforce  the  "dry"  laws  in 
some  cities  are  opposed  by  the  police  and  city 
legislative  bodies. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  strong  hold  that 
the  liquor  traffic  has  upon  some  city  adminis- 
trations, the  following  experience  in  one  of  the 
leading  cities  of  a  "dry"  state  is  given. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  constitution  and 
statute  law  of  the  state  prohibited  the  sale, 
keeping  and  storing  for  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  the  officials  of  the  city  evinced  a  spirit 
to  break  down  such  constitution  and  statutory 
provisions  within  the  city.  That  the  state 
might  have  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  city 
police  force  in  law  enforcement,  the  city  coun- 
cil was  requested  to  enact  proper  ordinance 
declaring  unlawful  the  sale  and  keeping  and 
storing  for  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  within 
the  city.  In  other  words,  making  it  a  munici- 

58 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

pal  as  well  as  a  state  offense  to  sell,  keep  or 
store  for  sale  intoxicating  liquors  within  the 
city. 

The  state  being  "dry/*  it  would  seem  that 
the  city  council  would  not  hesitate  to  respond 
to  such  request.  However,  the  city  council  did 
not  respond  to  such  request.  On  the  contrary, 
three  times  the  council,  by  decisive  votes,  re- 
jected the  proposed  ordinance.  At  the  last  ses- 
sion when  the  proposed  ordinance  was  rejected, 
and  after  its  rejection,  the  president  of  the 
council,  from  the  chair,  stated  he  had  personal 
knowledge  that  some  of  the  city  departments 
were  sending  intoxicating  liquors  into  the 
council  chamber  and  that  the  same  were  being 
furnished  to  some  members  of  the  council  to 
influence  the  votes  of  such  members  in  favor  of 
larger  appropriations  for  such  departments: 
And  further  stated  that  some  members  ot  the 
council  were  then  too  intoxicated  to  transact 
the  public  business  of  the  city.  And  thereupon 
the  council  unanimously  adopted  a  resolution 
providing  that  all  members  of  council,  too  in- 
toxicated to  properly  consider  the  public  busi- 
ness, should  either  remain  away  from  the 
council  chamber  or  be  ejected  therefrom! 

It  is  only  fair  to  say,  however,  that  the 
administration  of  the  city  had  been  elected 
when  the  city  was  "wet";  and  it  can  be  added 

59 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

that  a  better  day  is  now  dawning  for  that  city 
with  the  promise  of  a  coming  administration 
favorable  to  civic  righteousness — an  adminis- 
tration not  dominated  by  the  liquor  element. 


Should  one  despair  of  the  American  city? 
No.  The  day  is  coming  when  the  saloon  will 
be  banished  from  the  American  city  and  the 
"great  cause  of  misery,  pauperism  and  crime" 
(in  the  language  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States)  will  have  passed. 


There  was  a  city  of  the  plains  in  ancient 
days,  exceedingly  wicked.  Divine  wrath  was 
about  to  fall  upon  the  city.  If  only  ten  right- 
eous men  could  be  found  within  its  borders  the 
city  would  be  spared.  There  is  not  an  Ameri- 
can city  which  has  not  at  least  ten  righteous 
men — and  ten  righteous  men  will  ultimately 
save  any  city. 


60 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Invisible  Government 

A  PROMINENT  educator,  addressing 
the  graduating  class  at  a  great  uni- 
versity, said:  " Young  men,  there  are 
two  great  fields  of  usefulness  for  you 
in  life.  One  is  in  politics,  and  the  other  is  on 
the  police  force."  He  was  directing  the  minds 
of  the  young  men  to  two  institutions  of  the 
present-day  American  life  in  which  are  evils 
needing  the  attention  of  good  citizenship.  He 
did  not  mean  for  the  young  men  to  go  into 
politics,  in  the  sense  of  the  term  as  understood 
and  practiced  by  the  so-called  "political 
bosses ;"  nor  did  he  mean  for  them  to  go  on  the 
police  force  in  the  sense  of  actually  walking 
the  beat — although  such  occupation  can  be 
and  should  be  an  honorable  occupation. 

In  a  democratic  form  of  government  there 
is  a  duty  to  be  discharged  by  the  citizen,  as 
well  as  a  high  privilege  to  be  enjoyed  by  him. 
Political  conditions  have  given  rise  to  the 
phrase  "invisible  government."  The  invisi- 
ble government  arises  partly  because  good 
citizenship  does  not  exercise  that  active  inter- 
est in  and  attention  to  public  affairs  that  public 
affairs  need  from  every  good  citiezn  who  has 

61 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

at  heart  the  interest  of  good  government.  The 
forces  of  vice  and  greed  are  ever  active.  It  is 
true,  upon  sporadic  occasions,  good  citizenship 
rallies  and  drives  out  the  venal  boss.  Then 
good  citizenship  lapses  into  a  state  of  rest — 
and  the  bosses  return.  The  bosses  never  rest. 

The  proposition  might  be  illustrated  as 
follows:  A  city  had  become  notorious  as  a 
"wide-open"  town.  City  ordinances  were 
flagrantly  violated  by  the  lawless  and  vicious 
elements.  Notwithstanding  the  ordinances 
prohibited  gambling  and  prostitution,  yet  open, 
notorious  gambling  went  on  and  the  open, 
commercialized,  segregated  district  of  prosti- 
tution boasted  of  its  participation  and  influence 
in  municipal  affairs.  The  city  had  endured  all 
these  things  for  a  long  time.  Public  opinion 
was  slowly  shaping  itself,  and  at  last  crystal- 
lized into  active  force,  and  in  the  municipal 
election  the  old  administration  was  turned  out 
and  a  "reform"  mayor  elected. 

The  new  mayor  was  a  man  of  good  inten- 
tions, but  neither  experienced  in  public  mat- 
ters, nor  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  the  "in- 
visible government."  Good  citizenship  be- 
lieved the  fight  for  a  clean  city  was  over,  and 
left  to  the  new  mayor  the  matter  of  inaugur- 
ating new  conditions.  The  critical  time  for  the 
city  was  not  more  on  the  day  of  election,  than 

62 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

in  the  days  following  when  the  new  mayor  was 
organizing  his  administration.  In  such  days 
of  organization  the  bosses  were  busy.  The 
venal  bosses  led  the  mayor  to  believe  that  they 
elected  him.  And  they  had  their  way. 

The  city  charter  provided  that  the  mayor 
should  have  general  oversight  of  the  peace  and 
good  order  of  the  city,  with  power  to  appoint 
the  police  force  and  remove  the  same  at  his 
pleasure.  Did  the  mayor  appoint  the  police 
force?  He  appointed  the  police  force,  but  he 
named  few,  if  any,  men  on  the  force.  The 
names  of  the  appointees  were  furnished  to  the 
mayor  by  a  list  made  up  by  the  venal  bosses. 
And  those  whose  names  appeared  on  the  list 
were  appointed  to  the  force.  And  the  names 
of  those  who  appeared  on  the  list  as  made  up 
by  the  bosses  represented  the  men  who  would 
do  the  will  of  the  bosses!  Was  the  force  loyal 
to  the  mayor?  No.  What  obligation  did  any 
member  of  the  force  feel  to  the  mayor?  What 
had  the  mayor  to  do  with  the  selection  of  any 
man  on  the  force?  The  selection  had  been 
made  by  others,  and  to  others  they  owed  their 
fealty  and  their  loyalty. 

Vice  deals  with  the  bosses.  The  open, 
commercialized,  segregated  district,  the  open, 
commercialized  gambling  place,  do  not  deal 
with  the  mayor.  That  is,  not  with  money,  nor 

63 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

directly.  Yet  such  violators  are  not  prose- 
cuted. They  are  "protected."  The  mayor 
does  not  receive  any  money  from  such  violat- 
ors, but  the  bosses  do,  and  in  exchange  for 
money  received  by  the  bosses  from  such  vio- 
lators, the  bosses  give  protection!  The  bosses 
— well,  they  prosper,  as  the  world  goes,  at 
least  for  a  time — they  are  not  answerable  to 
the  public  for  good  government.  The  mayor — 
well,  the  bosses  took  him  upon  an  exceedingly 
high  mountain.  They  showed  him  political 
kingdoms,  with  a  promise  that  the  kingdoms 
should  be  his.  They  educated  the  mayor  to 
believe  that  he  "might  hurt  the  party/'  as  well 
as  himself  politically,  if  he  were  "too  drastic" 
in  his  efforts  to  enforce  the  city  ordinances. 
And  again,  they  impressed  his  mind  with  the 
notion  that  the  good  people  of  the  city  are 
"impractical  in  things  political"  and  "cannot 
be  depended  upon  anyway!"  Is  there  any 
wonder  at  the  growing  demand  that  the  people 
shall  have  within  themselves  the  right  of  re- 
call? The  police — well,  the  police  know  the 
mayor  is  the  appointing  power  in  name  only, 
and  that  the  bosses  are  the  real  appointing 
power.  The  orders  to  the  police  come  from 
the  bosses.  And  some  of  the  force  may  en- 
gage in  petty  grafting  themselves — emulating 
the  bosses. 

64 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Let  these  questions  be  asked:  How  can 
open,  notorious,  commercialized  prostitution 
and  segregated  districts,  and  open,  notorious, 
commercialized  gambling,  and  other  forms  of 
commercialized  evil,  exist  in  open,  direct,  no- 
torious violation  of  city  ordinances  unless  the 
same  have  protection?  And  if  protection,  why 
and  from  whom  the  protection? 

What  is  said  here,  happily  does  not  apply 
to  all  American  cities.  But  what  is  said  here, 
respecting  the  "invisible  government,"  wheth- 
er the  "invisible  government"  asserts  itself  in 
the  same  precise  form  as  used  in  the  illustra- 
tion or  not,  does  apply  to  many  cities.  Such 
conditions  not  only  tend  to  create  contempt 
for  law,  but  do  create  contempt  for  all  law,  and 
tend  to  make  difficult  law  enforcement. 

Is  there  any  relief  from  such  municipal 
conditions  ?  Yes,  relief  is  in  a  strong,  healthy 
public  opinion — and  such  opinion  in  concrete 
action. 

Hon.  Elihu  Root,  in  a  speech  delivered  in 
the  New  York  Constitutional  Convention, 
August  30,  1915,  referring  to  "invisible  gov- 
ernment," in  part,  said: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  there  never  was  a  reform 
in  administration  in  this  world  which  did  not 
have  to  make  its  wray  against  the  strong  feel- 
ing of  good,  honest  men,  concerned  in  existing 

65 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

methods  of  administration,  and  who  saw  noth- 
ing wrong.  Never!  It  is  no  impeachment  to 
a  man's  honesty,  his  integrity,  that  he  thinks 
the  methods  that  he  is  familiar  with  and  in 
which  he  is  engaged  are  all  right.  But  you 
cannot  make  any  improvement  in  this  world 
without  over-riding  the  satisfaction  that  men 
have  in  the  things  as  they  are,  and  of  which 
they  are  a  contented  and  successful  part.  *  *  * 
"I  am  going  to  discuss  a  subject  now  that 
goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  political  life 
of  the  oldest  man  in  this  Convention,  and  one 
to  which  we  cannot  close  our  eyes,  if  we  keep 
the  obligations  of  our  oath.  We  talk  about 
the  government  of  the  Constitution.  We  have 
spent  many  days  in  discussing  the  powers  of 
this  and  that  and  the  other  officer.  What  is 
the  government  of  this  State?  What  has  it 
been  during  the  forty  years  of  my  acquaintance 
with  it?  The  government  of  the  Constitution? 
Oh,  no ;  not  half  the  time,  or  half  way.  When 
I  ask  what  do  the  people  find  wrong  in  our 
State  government,  my  mind  goes  back  to  those 
periodic  fits  of  public  rage  in  which  the  people 
rouse  up  and  tear  down  the  political  leader, 
first  of  one  party  and  then  of  the  other  party. 
It  goes  on  to  the  public  feeling  of  resentment 
against  the  control  of  party  organizations,  of 
both  parties  and  of  all  parties. 

66 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

"Now,  I  treat  this  subject  in  my  own  mind 
not  as  a  personal  question  to  any  man.  I  am 
talking  about  the  system.  From  the  days  of 
Fenton,  and  Conkling,  and  Arthur  and  Cornell, 
and  Platt,  from  the  days  of  David  B.  Hill,  down 
to  the  present  time  the  government  of  the 
State  has  presented  two  different  lines  of  activ- 
ity, one  of  the  constitutional  and  statutory  of- 
ficers of  the  State,  and  the  other  of  the  party 
leaders — they  call  them  party  bosses.  They 
call  the  system — I  don't  coin  the  phrase,  I 
adopt  it  because  it  carries  its  own  meaning — 
the  system  they  call  "invisible  government." 
For  I  don't  remember  how  many  years,  Mr. 
Conkling  was  the  supreme  ruler  in  this  State; 
the  Governor  did  not  count,  the  legislatures 
did  not  count;  comptrollers  and  secretaries  of 
state  and  what  not,  did  not  count.  It  was  what 
Mr.  Conkling  said,  and  in  a  great  outburst  of 
public  rage  he  was  pulled  down. 

"Then  Mr.  Platt  ruled  the  State;  for  nigh 
upon  twenty  years  he  ruled  it.  It  was  not  the 
Governor;  it  was  not  the  Legislature;  it  was 
not  any  elected  officers ;  it  was  Mr.  Platt.  And 
the  capitol  was  not  here;  it  was  at  49  Broad- 
way; Mr.  Platt  and  his  lieutenants.  It  makes 
no  difference  what  name  you  give,  whether  you 
call  it  Fenton  or  Conkling  or  Cornell  or  Arthur 
or  Platt,  or  by  the  names  of  men  now  living. 

67 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

The  ruler  of  the  State  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  forty  years  of  my  acquaintance  with  the 
State  government  has  not  been  any  man  au- 
thorized by  the  Constitution  or  by  the  law;  and, 
sir,  there  is  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  this  State  a  deep  and  sullen  and  long-con- 
tinued resentment  at  being  governed  thus  by 
men  not  of  the  people's  choosing.  The  party 
leader  is  elected  by  no  one,  accountable  to  no 
one,  bound  by  no  oath  of  office,  removable  by 
no  one.  Ah !  My  friends  here  have  talked 
about  this  bill's  creating  an  autocracy.  The 
word  points  with  admirable  facility  the  very 
opposite  reason  for  the  bill.  It  is  to  destroy 
autocracy  and  restore  power  so  far  as  may  be 
to  the  men  elected  by  the  people,  accountable 
to  the  people,  removable  by  the  people.  I  don't 
criticize  the  men  of  the  invisible  government. 
How  can  I?  I  have  known  them  all,  and 
among  them  have  been  some  of  my  dearest 
friends.  I  can  never  forget  the  deep  sense  of 
indignation  that  I  felt  in  the  abuse  that  was 
heaped  upon  Chester  A.  Arthur,  whom  I  hon- 
ored and  loved,  when  he  was  attacked  because 
he  held  the  position  of  political  leader.  But  it 
is  all  wrong.  It  is  all  wrong  that  a  government 
not  authorized  by  the  people  should  be  contin- 
ued superior  to  the  government  that  is  author- 
ized by  the  people. 

68 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

"How  is  it  accomplished?  How  is  it  done? 
Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  done  by  the  use  of  patron- 
age, and  the  patronage  that  my  friends  on  the 
other  side  of  this  question  have  been  arguing 
and  pleading  for  in  this  Convention  is  the 
power  to  continue  that  invisible  government 
against  that  authorized  by  the  people.  Every- 
where, sir,  that  these  two  systems  of  govern- 
ment co-exist,  there  is  a  conflict  day  by  day, 
and  year  by  year,  between  two  principles  of 
appointment  to  office,  two  radically  opposed 
principles.  The  elected  officer  or  the  appointed 
officer,  the  lawful  officer  who  is  to  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  administration  of  his  office, 
desires  to  get  men  into  the  different  positions 
of  his  office  who  will  do  their  work  in  a  way 
that  is  creditable  to  him  and  his  administration. 
Whether  it  be  a  president  appointing  a  judge, 
or  a  governor  appointing  a  superintendent  of 
public  works,  whatever  it  may  be,  the  officer 
wants  to  make  a  success,  and  he  wants  to  get 
,the  man  selected  upon  the  ground  of  his  ability 
to  do  the  work. 

"How  is  it  about  the  boss?  What  does  the 
boss  have  to  do?  He  has  to  urge  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  man  whose  appointment  will  con- 
solidate his  power  and  preserve  the  organiza- 
tion. The  invisible  government  proceeds  to 
build  up  and  maintain  its  power  by  a  reversal 

69 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

of  the  fundamental  principle  of  good  govern- 
ment, which  is  that  men  should  be  selected  to 
perform  the  duties  of  the  office ;  and  to  substi- 
tute the  idea  that  men  should  be  appointed  to 
office  for  the  preservation  and  enhancement  of 
power  of  the  political  leader.  The  one,  the 
true  one,  looks  upon  appointment  to  office  with 
a  view  to  the  service  that  can  be  given  to  the 
public.  The  other,  the  false  one,  looks  upon 
appointment  to  office  with  a  view  to  wrhat  can 
be  gotten  out  of  it.  Gentlemen  of  the  Conven- 
tion, I  appeal  to  your  knowledge  of  facts. 
Every  one  of  you  knows  that  what  I  say  about 
the  use  of  patronage  under  the  system  of  in- 
visible government  is  true.  Louis  Marshall 
told  us  the  other  day  about  the  appointment 
of  wardens  in  the  Adirondacks,  hotel  keepers 
and  people  living  there,  to  render  no  service 
whatever.  They  were  appointed  not  for  the 
service  that  they  were  to  render  to  the  State; 
they  were  appointed  for  the  service  they  were 
to  render  to  promote  the  power  of  a  political 
organization.  Mr.  Chairman,  we  all  know  that 
the  halls  of  this  capitol  swarm  with  men  during 
the  session  of  the  Legislature  on  pay  day.  A 
great  number,  seldom  here,  rendering  no  ser- 
vice, are  put  on  the  payrolls  as  a  matter  of 
patronage,  not  of  service,  but  of  party  patron- 
age. Both  parties  are  alike;  all  parties  are  alike. 

70 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

The  system  extends  through  all.  Ah,  Mr. 
Chairman,  that  system  finds  its  opportunity  in 
the  division  of  powers,  in  a  six-headed  execu- 
tive, in  which,  by  the  natural  workings  of  hu- 
man nature  there  shall  be  opposition  and  dis- 
cord and  the  playing  of  one  force  against  the 
other,  and  so,  when  we  refuse  to  make  one 
Governor  elected  by  the  people  the  real  chief 
executive,  we  make  inevitable  the  setting  up  of 
a  chief  executive  not  selected  by  the  people,  not 
acting  for  the  people's  interest,  but  for  the  self- 
ish interest  of  the  few  who  control  the  party, 
whichever  party  it  may  be.  Think  for  a  mo- 
ment of  what  this  patronage  system  means. 
How  many  of  you  are  there  who  would  be  will- 
ing to  do  to  your  private  client,  or  customer, 
or  any  private  trust,  or  to  a  friend  or  neighbor, 
what  you  see  being  done  to  the  State  of  New 
York  every  year  of  your  lives  in  the  taking  of 
money  out  of  her  treasury,  without  service?  We 
can,  when  we  are  in  a  private  station,  pass  on 
without  much  attention  to  inveterate  abuses. 
We  can  say  to  ourselves,  I  know  it  is  wrong,  I 
wish  it  could  be  set  right;  it  cannot  be  set  right, 
I  will  do  nothing.  But  here,  here,  we  face  the 
duty,  we  cannot  escape  it,  we  are  bound  to  do 
our  work  face  to  face  in  clear  recognition  of  the 
truth,  unpalatable,  deplorable  as  it  may  be,  and 
the  truth  is  that  what  the  unerring  instinct  of 

71 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

the  democracy  of  our  State  has  seen  in  this  gov- 
ernment that  a  different  standard  of  morality 
is  applied  to  the  conduct  of  affairs  of  State 
than  that  which  is  applied  in  private  affairs.  I 
have  been  told  forty  times  since  this  Conven- 
tion met  that  you  cannot  change  it.  We  can 
try,  can't  we?  I  deny  that  we  cannot  change 
it.  I  repel  that  cynical  assumption  which  is 
born  of  the  lethargy  that  comes  from  poisoned 
air  during  all  these  years.  I  assert  that  this 
perversion  of  democracy,  this  robbing  democ- 
racy of  its  virility,  can  be  changed  as  truly  as 
the  system  under  which  Walpole  governed  the 
commons  of  England,  by  bribery,  as  truly  as 
the  atmosphere  which  made  the  credit  mobilier 
scandal  possible  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  has  been  blown  away  by  the  force  of 
public  opinion.  We  cannot  change  it  in  a  mo- 
ment, but  we  can  do  our  share.  We  can  take 
this  one  step  toward,  not  robbing  the  people 
of  their  part  in  government,  but  toward  rob- 
bing an  irresponsible  autocracy  of  its  indefensi- 
ble and  unjust  and  undemocratic  control  of 
government,  and  restoring  it  to  the  people  to 
be  exercised  by  the  men  of  their  choice  and 
their  control.  *  *  * 

"Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  a  plain  old  house 
in  the  Oneida  hills,  overlooking  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk,  where  truth  and  honor  dwelt  in 

72 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

my  youth.  When  I  go  back,  as  I  am  about  to 
go,  to  spend  my  declining  years,  I  mean  to  go 
with  the  feeling  that  I  have  not  failed  to  speak 
and  to  act  here  in  accordance  with  the  lessons 
I  learned  there  from  the  God  of  my  fathers. 
God  grant  that  this  opportunity  for  service  to 
our  country  and  our  State  may  not  be  neg- 
lected by  any  of  the  men  for  whom  I  feel  so 
deep  a  friendship  in  this  Convention." 


73 


CHAPTER  X. 
Revenue 


11  PRACTICAL  result  of  prohibition 
/-\  is  now  being  experienced  in  West 
JL  \^  Virginia.  There  is  a  big  deficit 
in  the  treasury  of  that  state  be- 
cause of  the  abolition  of  the  receipts  accruing 
from  the  liquor  licenses  since  the  operation  of 
the  prohibition  law.  *  *  *  There  could  not 
very  well  be  a  more  practical  illustration  of  the 
folly  of  prohibition  than  the  foregoing."  This 
quotation  is  from  an  article  appearing  in  the 
National  Liquor  Dealers'  Journal  in  March, 
1915.  Statements  to  the  same  effect  appeared 
as  paid  advertisements  in  a  large  number  of  the 
great  daily  newspapers  throughout  the  coun- 
try. 

It  is  believed  that  a  short  statement  of  the 
fiscal  affairs  of  the  state  of  West  Virginia  will 
be  helpful.  By  virtue  of!  law,  the  state  tax 
commissioner  of  said  state  is  ex-officio  chief 
inspector  and  supervisor  of  public  offices,  and 
is  required  to  examine,  audit  and  report  the 
fiscal  condition  and  transactions  of  the  several 
fiscal  units  of  the  state,  including  the  several 
departments  of  the  state  government.  The 

74 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

legislative  session  of  1913  made  appropriation 
for  examination,  audit  and  report  of  the  several 
departments  of  the  state  government.  The 
report  of  such  examination  and  audit  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  legislative  session  of  1915.  The 
legislative  session  of  1915  further  supple- 
mented the  then  existing  law  by  providing  for 
an  annual  audit  of  the  several  state  depart- 
ments, and  report  of  such  audits,  thereby  form- 
ing the  basis  of  the  budget  system  for  future 
appropriations. 

In  1904  the  direct  levy  for  state  purposes 
was  25  cents,  and  for  school  purposes,  10  cents, 
on  each  one  hundred  dollars,  or  a  total  of  35 
cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars  of  assessed 
valuation.  In  the  year  1904  steps  were  taken 
looking  to  the  reduction,  if  not  the  final  aboli- 
tion, of  the  direct  state  tax.  The  fiscal  year  for 
the  state  begins  on  the  first  day  of  July  and 
ends  on  the  3Oth  day  of  June.  The  state  board 
of  public  works  fixes  the  direct  state  tax  within 
the  limits  of  the  maximum  levy  provided  by 
legislation.  The  board  of  public  works  for  the 
fiscal  year  beginning  July  I,  1912,  fixed  the 
state  tax  at  i  cent  on  each  one  hundred  dollars 
of  valuation.  At  the  end  of  that  fiscal  year, 
viz.,  the  3Oth  day  of  June,  1913,  the  state  had  a 
deficit  in  the  General  Fund  of  $480,000. 

This  deficit  was  caused  on  account  of  ex- 
75 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

penditures  by  the  state  in  preserving  order  and 
enforcing  law  during  a  very  prolonged  and  bit- 
ter strike  in  the  coal  fields  of  the  Great  Kana- 
wha  Valley.  For  the  fiscal  year  beginning  July 
i,  1913,  and  ending  June  30,  1914,  the  board  of 
public  works  fixed  the  levy  at  6  cents  on  each 
one  hundred  dollars.  In  all  candor,  this  levy 
should  have  been  the  maximum  levy  then  pro- 
vided by  law,  viz.,  10  cents  on  each  one  hundred 
dollars.  At  the  end,  however,  of  the  fiscal  year, 
viz.,  June  30,  1914,  there  was  a  deficit  in  the 
General  Fund  of  $346,000.  During  the  two 
years  referred  to,  the  state  was  "wet,"  and  re- 
ceived as  large  revenue  from  the  liquor  source 
as  she  had  ever  received.  The  state  entered 
the  prohibition  period  on  the  first  day  of  July, 

1914,  with  a  deficit  of  $346,000  in  her  General 
Fund. 

For  the  fiscal  year  beginning  July  i,  1914, 
the  board  of  public  works  laid  the  levy  at  10 
cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars — the  maxi- 
mum levy  the  board  could  then  lay.  The  defi- 
cit at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  viz.,  June  30, 

1915,  (the  close  of  the  first  dry  year)  was  $760,- 
ooo.    For  the  fiscal  year  beginning  July  i,  1915? 
the  board  of  public  works  laid  the  levy  at  14 
cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars.    The  deficit 
at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  viz.,  June  30,  1916, 
was  $250,000.     For  the  fiscal  year  beginning 

76 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

July  i,  1916,  the  board  of  public  works  laid  the 
levy  at  9  cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars.  At 
the  end  of  the  current  fiscal  year,  viz.,  June  30, 
1917,  the  state's  general  revenue  will  have  a 
surplus  of  $50,000  to  $75,000.  Inasmuch  as  the 
levy  is  decreasing  and  the  statement  made 
that  there  will  be  a  surplus  at  the  end  of  the 
current  fiscal  year,  the  following  explanatory 
statement  is  now  made. 

The  legislative  session  of  1915?  and  the  sec- 
ond extraordinary  session  of  1915,  made  ap- 
propriations for  the  fiscal  years  ending  June  30, 
1916,  and  June  30,  1917,  respectively.  Provi- 
sions were  also  made  at  said  extraordinary 
session  for  additional  revenue.  By  virtue  of 
the  system  prescribed  under  the  act  of  1915 
and  the  auditing  and  examining  of  the  fiscal 
affairs  of  the  state,  it  can  be  determined  ap- 
proximately what  the  fiscal  condition  of  the 
state  will  be  at  the  end  of  the  current  year.  The 
additional  revenue  provided  consisted  of  an  in- 
crease of  the  franchise  or  license  tax  upon  cor- 
porations, and  a  special  excise  tax  of  one-half 
of  one  per  cent  upon  the  net  income  arising 
from  business  transacted  in  the  state  by  cor- 
porations engaged  in  business  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, together  with  the  provisions  for  the  di- 
rect tax. 

Further,  by  virtue  of  the  budget  system 
77 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

and  the  auditing  and  examination  provided  for 
by  law,  it  can  be  definitely  stated  that  the  direct 
state  levy  for  the  fiscal  year  beginning  July  i, 
1917,  will  not  exceed  5  or  6  cents  on  the  one 
hundred  dollars.  The  direct  taxes  laid  for  the 
years  mentioned  provide  for  and  include  state 
appropriations  to  the  public  schools,  although 
the  equivalent  to  3^  cents  of  such  annual 
taxes  did  and  does  go  to  support  of  local  public 
schools. 

It  will  be  observed  that  during  the  last  two 
"wet"  years,  the  state  had  large  deficits.  It 
will  be  observed  that  at  the  end  of  the  second 
"dry"  year,  the  deficit  was  less  than  the  deficit 
at  the  end  of  the  last  "wet"  year.  And  it  will 
be  observed  that  at  the  end  of  the  third  "dry" 
year  the  state  will  have  a  surplus  rather  than 
a  deficit. 

With  the  candid  statement  of  the  facts  as 
to  West  Virginia's  fiscal  affairs  during  the 
years  referred  to,  the  reader  is  left  to  form  his 
own  conclusions  as  to  the  effect  of  prohibition 
upon  the  revenues  of  the  state. 

The  state  need  not  suffer  for  necessary 
revenue.  She  has  resources  that  will  give  her 
ample  revenue  for  all  her  legitimate  needs.  The 
enactment  of  necessary  revenue  measures,  as 
they  may  be  required  from  time  to  time,  will 
not  impose  any  unfair  or  unnecessary  or  heavy 

78 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

burden  upon  any  person  or  upon  any  interest. 
The  state  is  a  great  storehouse  of  natural 
wealth;  she  has  great  resources,  and  her  pos- 
sibilities are  almost  without  limit. 

It  is  not  right,  however,  to  consider  the 
question  merely  from  the  monetary  standpoint. 
Men  and  women,  not  money,  are  the  real  assets 
of  the  state.  The  happiness  and  general  wel- 
fare of  the  citizens  are  the  first  obligations  of 
the  state.  The  generation  growing  up  in  the 
state,  its  future  men  and  women,  will  grow 
into  the  full  stature  of  manhood  and  woman- 
hood without  knowing  the  open  saloon;  they 
will  have  healthy  bodies,  clear  minds  and  clean 
morals,  and  will  be  worth  more  to  the  state 
than  all  the  material  wealth.  Such  a  genera- 
tion will  be  an  asset  "more  to  be  desired  than 
gold,  yea  even  more  than  fine  gold." 

Compare,  if  such  a  comparison  should  be 
made,  the  $650,000  of  annual  revenue  from  the 
liquor  business  to  a  generation  of  boys  and 
girls,  men  and  women  that  knows  not  the  sa- 
loon. Compare  the  $650,000  of  revenue  which 
the  state  might  receive  from  the  liquor  busi- 
ness, with  the  sum  of  $15,000,000  that  formerly 
went  out  of  the  state  annually  to  purchase  and 
bring  liquors  into  the  state — consider  why  this 
$15,000,000  was  formerly  paid  out — what  good 
did  such  intoxicating  liquors  do  when  brought 

79 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

into  the  state?  What  can  be  said  for  such  liq- 
uors ?  They  encouraged  crime  even  to  the  ex- 
tent of  murder;  they,  more  than  any  other  sin- 
gle factor,  are  responsible  for  the  1008  men, 
most  of  them  young,  in  the  state  penitentiary: 
They,  more  than  any  other  factor,  are  responsi- 
ble for  2455  inmates  in  the  state  hospitals  to- 
day. 

It  can  be  demonstrated  that  revenue  from 
the  liquor  traffic  is  not  a  remedy  for  the  rev- 
enue ills  of  fiscal  bodies.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
liquor  interests  have  endeavored  to  show  that 
West  Virginia,  with  the  relatively  small  defi- 
cits above  given,  is  a  horrid  example  of  a  fiscal 
body  that  undertakes  to  do  without  revenue 
from  the  liquor  traffic,  attention  will  be  called, 
in  a  statistical  way,  to  some  other  fiscal  bodies 
that  have  depended  on  and  are  yet  receiving 
revenue  from  the  liquor  traffic. 

The  two  hundred  and  four  American  cities 
having  a  population  of  30,000  and  over,  respect- 
ively, receive  from  the  liquor  traffic  an  annual 
aggregate  revenue  of  $39,606,956.  The  same 
cities  expend  annually  to  maintain  police  de- 
partments, the  aggregate  sum  of  $64,892,291, 
and  the  same  cities  have  a  total  indebtedness, 
funded  and  special  assessment,  of  $3,064,332,- 
214. 

The  gross  indebtedness  of  the  National 
80 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Government,  August  31,  1916,  was  $1,220,230,- 
978.03;  this  gross  indebtedness  was  subject  to 
balance  available  to  pay  maturing  obligations 
of  $194,765,849.80,  leaving  the  net  indebtedness 
of  the  Federal  Government  $1,025,465,128.23. 
It  therefore  appears  that  the  funded  and  spe- 
cial assessment  indebtedness  of  the  204  cities 
is  nearly  three  times  the  national  debt. 

The  money  circulation  of  the  United 
States,  September  I,  1916,  including  gold  coin, 
gold  certificates,  silver  dollars,  silver  certifi- 
cates, subsidiary  silver,  treasury  notes,  United 
States  notes,  Federal  Reserve  notes,  Federal 
Reserve  bank  notes,  and  National  Bank  notes, 
was  $4,066,859,152.00,  so  that  the  funded  and 
assessment  indebtedness  of  the  204  cities  is 
three-fourths  of  the  entire  amount  of  such  cir- 
culation. The  funded  and  special  assessment 
indebtedness  of  the  204  cities  is  equivalent  to  a 
per  capita  indebtedness  of  $30.33  for  the  entire 
population  of  the  United  States! 

The  annual  expenditures  of  the  aforesaid 
204  cities  for  the  care  of  the  poor,  care  of  chil- 
dren, other  charities,  insane  hospitals  and  in- 
stitutions of  correction  for  adults  and  minors, 
aggregate  the  sum  of  $27,086,351.  Against 
$39,606,956  received  from  the  liquor  traffic  in 
revenue  stands  $91,978,642  annually  expended 
by  the  same  cities  for  charities,  hospitals,  in- 

81 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

stitutions  of  correction  and  maintenance  of  po- 
lice. 

Consider  four  cities.  New  York  City  has 
over  12,000  licensed  saloons.  The  bonded  in- 
debtedness of  the  city  of  New  York  is  $1.336,- 
313,022,  with  annual  interest  charges  thereon 
of  $43,115,279.  Of  every  $100  of  city  taxes, 
$8.25  thereof  is  spent  for  the  police  department, 
68  cents  for  city  prisons  and  correctional  insti- 
tutions, $2.70  for  the  courts,  50  cents  for  the 
prosecution  of  crime,  $4.96  for  city  charities, 
making  a  total  for  these  purposes  of  $17.09  out 
of  every  $100.  And  the  tax  rates  in  the  city 
run  from  $1.78  to  $2.13  on  the  $100  of  valuation 
in  the  respective  boroughs. 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  has  1927  retail 
saloons,  345  wholesale  establishments,  42  brew- 
eries and  7  distilleries.  The  city's  income  from 
the  liquor  traffic  is  $1,918,489.  The  net  bonded 
indebtedness  of  the  city,  exclusive  of  sinking 
fund  and  other  securities,  is  $98,401,050.  For 
the  year  1915  the  city  had  a  deficit  of  $2,221,000 
— the  current  running  expenses  of  the  city  be- 
ing that  much  in  excess  of  its  regular  income. 
The  annual  average  deficit  for  the  four  years 
ending  December  31,  1915,  has  been  $1,410,648 
— which  deficits  have  made  necessary  the  sale 
of  bonds  to  provide  required  revenue. 

The  city  of  Cleveland  has  1293  saloons, 
82 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

and  a  bonded  indebtedness  of  $43,000,000,  and 
is  compelled  to  borrow  money  to  meet  running 
expenses.  The  city  of  Cincinnati  has  828  sa- 
loons, exclusive  of  wholesale  liquor  houses, 
breweries,  and  distilleries,  and  has  a  bonded 
indebtedness  of  $66,000,000,  and  a  deficit  of 
over  $1,000,000,  and  has  been  compelled  to  bor- 
row money  to  pay  running  expenses. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  cities  named 
is  largely  typical  (in  a  relative  degree)  of  the 
average  American  city. 

West  Virginia  as  a  "dry"  state  has  fared 
better  and  is  faring  better,  from  the  standpoint 
of  revenue,  than  some  of  her  "wet"  neighbors. 
This  can  be  illustrated  by  considering  the  fi- 
nancial condition  of  the  states  of  Maryland  and 
Kentucky. 

The  state  of  Maryland,  as  of  October  i, 
1915,  had  a  gross  bonded  indebtedness  of  $22,- 
785,880,  with  a  sinking  fund  and  mortgage  in- 
vestments aggregating  $7,710,584,  leaving  the 
net  indebtedness  of  the  state  $15,075,296.  The 
state  had  a  deficit  of  $1,446,555.  To  provide 
for  such  deficit  as  well  as  the  running  expenses 
of  the  state  government,  the  General  Assem- 
bly, by  Act  approved  March  27,  1916,  author- 
ized a  bond  issue  of  $2,000,000,  and  the  bonds 
issued  and  sold  as  August  I,  1916. 

Kentucky,  famous  for  its  whisky,  is  not 
83 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

without  debt.  The  liquor  interests  of  Kentucky 
claim  to  have  property  in  that  state  with  as- 
sessed value  of  several  millions  of  dollars.  The 
commonwealth  of  Kentucky  has  outstanding 
interest  bearing  state  warrants  aggregating 
the  sum  of  $4,000,000.00. 

West  Virginia  has  no  bonded  indebted- 
ness, nor  has  the  state  any  outstanding  state 
warrants.  True,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  in  June,  1915,  held  the  state  to 
be  liable  for  the  sum  of  $4,000,000  principal,  as 
the  state's  equitable  part  of  the  indebtedness  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  as  of  January 
i,  1 86 1,  with  $8,000,000  interest  thereon,  aggre- 
gating, in  round  numbers,  $12,000,000.  What- 
ever West  Virginia  must  pay  on  account  of 
such  indebtedness  of  the  old  commonwealth 
of  Virginia  (such  indebtedness  arising  before 
the  creation  of  the  state  of  West  Virginia)  may 
be  regarded  as  the  price  of  West  Virginia's  ad- 
mission to  the  sisterhood  of  states;  and  in  no 
way  connected  with  prohibition. 


84 


CHAPTER  XL 
Economic  Side  of  the  Question 


THERE  is  a  side  to  the  question,  inde- 
pendently of  morals,  that  should  ap- 
peal   to    the   business   man  and   the 
laboring  man — the  economic  side  of 
the  question.     The   drink  bill  of  the  United 
States  is  about  $2,250,000,000  annually.     The 
loss  in  money  paid  for  drink  is  not  the  greatest 
loss  growing  out  of  the  drink  habit.    It  is  pro- 
posed to  demonstrate  from  two  years'  experi- 
ence some  of  the  benefits  of  prohibition,  look- 
ing at  the  question  from  an  economic  stand- 
point. 

Savings  accounts,  in  state  banks  alone  (in 
West  Virginia)  increased  $1,339,115.60  in  the 
first  two  years  of  prohibition.  Deposits  in 
state  and  national  banks  increased  $6,679,000 
in  the  same  period.  The  assessed  value  of  prop- 
erty in  the  state  has  increased  $43,253,981.  In- 
stead of  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  men  em- 
ployed in  the  industries  of  the  state  there  has 
been  an  increase  of  26,669  during  the  period 
mentioned. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  employer.  The 
man  who  is  not  addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  has  greater  efficiency  than  the 

85 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

man  who  is  addicted  to  the  use  of  such  liquors. 
The  Pardee  and  Curtin  Lumber  Company  is 
one  of  the  largest,  lumber  companies  in  the 
state.  It  pays  into  the  State  Compensation 
Fund,  for  the  benefit  of  employees  in  case  of 
death  or  injury,  annually,  the  sum  of  $4,845.00. 
The  general  manager  of  the  company  made 
the  statement  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  increased 
efficiency  of  the  men  working  for  his  company 
is  equivalent  to  the  amount  paid  by  the  com- 
pany to  the  Workmen's  Compensation  Fund. 
This  is  the  general  experience  of  other  em- 
ployers of  labor  throughout  the  state. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  laboring  man 
and  his  family,  prohibition  means  increased 
earningpowerfor  the  bread-winner  and  greater 
happiness  for  his  family.  The  liquor  interests 
assert  that  the  laboring  man  cannot  and  will 
not  do  without  intoxicating  liquors.  This  is 
an  insult  to  the  laboring  man.  The  intelligent 
laboring  man  is  freer  from  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  than  any  other  particular  class.  The 
liquor  people  assert  that  the  laboring  man  must 
have  a  stimulant  at  the  end  of  his  day's  work. 
This  is  untrue.  The  best  economic  thought  is 
that  the  laboring  man  should  have  shorter 
hours  of  labor  and  the  opportunity  to  be  with 
his  family,  and  that  he  should  have  rest  and 
recreation  rather  than  an  artificial  excitant. 

86 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Science  now  teaches  that  alcoholic  liquors,  in- 
stead of  being  stimulants,  are  excitants,  and 
that  their  use  is  followed  by  depression. 

The  following  communications  are  sub- 
mitted in  support  of  the  statements  respecting 
employers  and  employees : 


"STATE   OF  WEST   VIRGINIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  MINES 

CHARLESTON 

October  22,  1914. 
"Dear  Sir: 

Your  letter  of  October  22nd  at  hand  and  contents 
noted,  and  in  reply  beg  to  advise  you  that  I  have  been 
in  every  section  of  the  state  recently  in  connection  with 
the  mining  industry,  and  in  conversation  with  some 
of  the  largest  operators  have  been  advised  that  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  employees  has  been  raised  at  least  25 
per  cent  since  the  prohibition  law  went  into  effect,  and 
none  of  the  operators  have  lost  any  of  their  former 
employees  from  the  effect  of  the  prohibition  law. 

In  conversation  with  miners  in  the  various  sec- 
tions I  have  also  been  advised  that  nearly  all  are  very 
much  pleased  with  the  conditions,  even  some  of  those 
who  formerly  were  bitterly  opposed. 
Yours  very  truly, 

EARL  A.  HENRY, 
Chief  Department  of  Mines." 

87 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

"DISTRICT  NO.   17 

UNITED  MINE  WORKERS  OF  AMERICA 
CHARLESTON,  W.  VA. 

October  29,  1915. 
"My  dear  Sir: 

The  effects  of  prohibition  among  the  miners  in 
West  Virginia  has  given  splendid  results.  It  has 
increased  their  efficiency  very  largely  and  has  a  splen- 
did moral  effect  in  the  mining  communities. 

There  is  still  some  illegal  selling  among  the 
miners,  but  if  the  adjoining  states  of  Ohio  and  Ken- 
tucky were  dry  this  would  be  entirely  done  away  with. 
So  far  as  the  miners  in  this  state  are  concerned, 
if  another  vote  was  taken  on  prohibition,  the  majority 
for  the  drys  would  be  very  much  larger  than  when 
the  last  vote  was  taken. 

Very  truly, 

THOS.  CAIRNES, 
President  Dist.  No.  17,  U.  M.  W.  of  A. 

J.  M.  CRAGO 
Secretary  Dist.  No.  17,  U.  M.  W.  of  A." 


"GLENRAY  LUMBER  COMPANY 
GLENRAY,  W.  VA. 

12-28-15. 

"Dear  Sir: 

As  we  do  not  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing  you 
personally,  we  write  you  to  express  our  appreciation 
of  the  state  prohibition  law. 

The  writer  will  try  to  briefly  outline  the  effects 
of  prohibition  here  as  we  have  observed  it  among  our 
employees. 

Let  me  state  that  at  the  time  the  writer  took 
charge  of  this  operation,  four  years  ago,  it  would  have 

88 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

been  hard  to  find  a  locality  more  demoralized  from 
the  effects  of  alcoholic  beverages.  Drunken  brawls, 
ragged  and  dirty  children,  and  inefficiency  were  in  evi- 
dence at  all  times.  On  account  of  these  conditions 
we  made  rules  prohibiting  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  at  our  works.  Of  the  men  discharged,  over 
90  per  cent  came  about  through  "booze." 

It  was  one  continual  fight  to  keep  from  getting 
overdrafts  on  our  payroll.  A  number  of  the  men 
would  be  away  Saturdays  and  Sundays  and  would  be 
anything  but  efficient  on  Mondays  and  Tuesdays. 

Very  frequently  subscription  papers  were  passed 
around  for  the  relief  of  a  fellow-workman. 

The  difference  we  notice  today  is  very  marked,  in- 
deed, it  having  been  over  a  year  since  any  relief  papers 
were  made  up  for  any  of  our  employees.  The  laborers 
are  steadier,  there  is  very  little  tendency  to  overdrafts, 
and  overdrafts  made  previous  to  the  prohibition  law 
are  being  paid  off.  We  have  not  seen  a  drunken 
brawl  about  the  place  since  the  law  came  into  effect, 
and,  best  of  all,  the  children  are  better  dressed,  are 
cleaner,  and  are  attending  school  preparing  for  citizen- 
ship on  a  higher  plane  than  could  have  been  possible 
under  the  old  environment. 

I  would  ask  any  thinking  man  if  it  has  not  been 
eminently  worth  while,  if  only  for  the  effect  it  has  had 
upon  the  care  given  to  the  children.  Better  environ- 
ment for  the  kiddies  is  the  equivalent  of  a  higher 
standard  of  citizenship  twenty  years  hence. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GLENRAY  LUMBER  COMPANY, 
By  Chas.  A.  Briggs,  General  Manager." 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

"STATE   OF  WEST  VIRGINIA, 

DEPARTMENT   OF  LABOR 
CHARLESTON 

"Dear  Sir:  October  22,   1914. 

Replying  to  your  inquiry  of  recent  date,  in  which 
you  ask:  "How  the  prohibition  law  has  affected  labor 
conditions  generally  since  it  became  effective  July  i, 
last,"  I  gladly  give  you  the  conditions  as  I  have  ob- 
served them  in  my  travels  throughout  the  state. 

When  the  prohibition  law  became  effective  July 
i,  1914,  the  bartenders  and  brewery  workers  were  the 
first  to  become  idle.  This  idleness  on  their  part  was 
of  short  duration,  for  they  received  employment  in 
other  lines  of  business.  A  number  went  to  work  at 
trades  at  which  they  previously  worked  before  becom- 
ing attached  to  the  liquor  business,  while  a  very  few 
left  the  state.  Today  these  men  are  at  work  and  the 
prohibition  law  has  not  affected  them  as  to  "prolonged 
idleness." 

I  have  observed,  which  I  consider  the  most  favor- 
able result  of  prohibition,  that  men  who  formerly  came 
to  the  cities  (they  generally  lived  in  the  suburbs  where 
the  large  factories  are  located)  on  the  evening  of  pay- 
day, mostly  Saturday  evenings,  and  spent  the  large 
part  of  their  weekly  wages  for  liquors,  now  carry  home 
food  and  clothing  for  the  wife  and  children.  This 
feature  alone,  in  my  opinion,  has  indicated  that  pro- 
hibition has  been  a  moral  and  intellectual  help  to  the 
welfare  of  the  working  classes. 

The  prohibition  law  has  and  will  continue  to  be  a 
wonderful  help  to  this  department  in  the  strict  enforce- 
ment of  the  Child  Labor  law.  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  H.  NIGHTINGALE, 
Commissioner  of  Labor." 
90 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

As  a  further  part  of  the  economic  side  of 
the  question,  attention  is  called  to  this:  Nearly 
every  community  has  a  class  of  professional 
idlers.  They  do  no  work,  and  society  in  some 
way,  directly  or  indirectly,  contributes  to  their 
support.  If  this  class  would  work — and  physi- 
cally they  are  able  to  work — the  demand  for 
labor  would  be  largely  supplied.  The  state- 
ment is  ventured  that,  if  the  truth  were  known, 
the  saloon  has  largely,  if  not  principally,  con- 
tributed to  create  this  idle  class  in  many  com- 
munities. Perhaps  not  alone  in  the  present 
generation,  but  in  the  preceding  generations 
as  well,  physiological  conditions  were  devel- 
oped by  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  and  handed 
down  by  heredity,  so  that  to  this  source  might 
be  largely  traced  the  origin  of  this  idle  class. 
It  is  believed  that  in  the  course  of  time,  with 
the  passing  of  alcoholic  liquors  as  beverages, 
this  class  of  idlers  will  grow  less  and  less. 

The  obligation  is  upon  society  to  do  the 
things  that  tend  to  make  the  conditions  of  so- 
ciety better.  Whenever  a  man  is  intoxicated 
and  arrested  for  being  so,  is  fined  and  impris- 
oned in  a  municipal  jail,  that  man's  labor  is 
lost,  part  of  that  man's  time  is  lost,  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  family  is  lost.  The  loss  to  society 
in  this  phase  alone  is  very  great.  Driving  out 
the  saloon  decreases  this  loss.  The  following 

91 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

comparative  statement,  made  from  the  official 
reports  of  municipalities  in  West  Virginia  hav- 
ing as  many  as  one  hundred  arrests  in  the  last 
"wet"  year,  demonstrates  the  saving  to  society 
as  a  result  of  prohibition. 


:  g-*"£! 

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1—  »"     *~~l 

j  =11  ? 

Ben  wood    .  .. 
Buckhannon 
Charleston  .. 
Clarksburg   . 
Charlestown 
Fairmont    .  .  . 
Huntington  . 
Keyser    

•    546 
.    184 
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.2726 

•    194 
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I  O7 

202 
91 
1485 
2050 

143 
842 

1563 

265 

88 
1945 
643 
30 
412 
2696 

IIQ 

129 

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594 
309 
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20  1 

755 

Kenova 
Lester    

.  147 

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103 

01 

58 

Martinsburg 
Mannington 
Moundsville 
Parkersburg 
Richwood    .  . 
Weston 
Wheeling    .  . 

•  257 
.  105 
•  235 
.1376 
.  498 
.  190 
.2901 

'35 
58 
87 

493 
276 

97 

IIOI 

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170 
632 

222 
67 
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179 
61 

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419 

18519 


8853 


9183 


2973 


What  more  humanitarian  duty  has  society 
to  perform  than  to  care  for  the  unfortunate  in- 
sane? It  is  now  asserted  that  the  consumption 
of  alcoholic  liquors  has  contributed  largely  to 

92 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

society's  loss  of  splendid  minds,  and  the  finan- 
cial burdens  of  society  in  caring  for  the  insane. 
The  following  letters  from  Dr.  L.  V. 
Guthrie,  Superintendent  of  the  Huntington 
State  Hospital,  and  from  Dr.  C.  W.  Halterman, 
Superintendent  of  the  Weston  State  Hospital, 
illustrate  the  injurious  effects  of  alcoholic  bev- 
erages and  the  benefits  of  prohibition. 

"HUNTINGTON    STATE    HOSPITAL 
HUNTINGTON,    W.    VA. 

Sept.  6,  1916. 
"My  dear  Sir: 

It  is  an  admitted  fact  among  those  who  are  com- 
petent to  judge,  that  alcohol  in  its  various  forms  is 
responsible  for  19.5  per  cent  of  the  cases  of  insanity 
among  men  living  in  cities,  and  admitted,  on  first  com- 
mitments, to  hospitals  for  the  insane. 

This  takes  no  account  of  the  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands who  reach  the  penitentiary  and  the  gallows  from 
the  same  cause. 

Since  the  prohibition  laws  have  become  effective 
in  West  Virginia  there  has  been  a  decrease  of  75  per 
cent  in  the  number  of  cases  of  alcoholic  insanity  com- 
ing under  my  observation. 

I  have  had  twenty  years'  experience  in  observing 
the  effects  of  alcohol  in  cases  sent  to  hospitals  for  in- 
sane in  West  Virginia,  and  ten  years  in  private  prac- 
tice, a  total  of  thirty  years. 

Very  truly  yours, 

L.  V.  GUTHRIE,  Supt." 

93 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

"WESTON    STATE   HOSPITAL 
WESTON,    W.    VA. 

September  19,  1916. 
"Dear  Sir: 

Replying  to  your  letter  of  recent  date  with  re- 
spect to  the  effect  of  state-wide  prohibition,  beg  to  ad- 
vise that  in  going  over  our  record  of  admissions  to 
this  institution,  we  find  that  the  number  of  cases  ad- 
mitted, where  alcohol  was  the  immediate  and  direct 
cause  of  mental  disorder,  has  been  largely  reduced 
since  the  Yost  law  went  into  effect.  You  are  also  ad- 
vised of  your  privilege  to  use  this  statement  in  a  pub- 
lic way,  at  any  time  and  in  whatever  manner  you  may 
deem  advantageous  to  the  cause  of  prohibition. 
Yours  very  truly, 

C.  W.  HALTERMAN,  M.  D. 
Superintendent." 


A  prohibition  state  has  less  serious  crime 
than  a  "wet"  state.  This  tends  to  save  men  to 
a  state — its  greatest  asset — and  decrease  the 
criminal  expenses.  The  statement  is  now  made 
that  state-wide  prohibition  tends  to  decrease 
crime  in  the  state.  This  statement  is  substan- 
tiated by  the  following  letter  from  Warden  M. 
Z.  White,  of  the  West  Virginia  Penitentiary. 

"THE  WEST  VIRGINIA  PENITENTIARY 

M.  Z.  WHITE,  Warden 

MOUNDSVILLE,  W.  VA. 

Sept.  22,  1916. 
"Dear  Sir: 

In  response  to  your  letter  of  September  20  in  re- 
gard to  the  effect  of  prohibition  in  this  state,  I  beg  to 

94 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

advise  that  on  the  first  day  of  August,  1914,  when  I 
assumed  charge  of  this  institution,  the  total  population 
was  1,260  and  today  it  is  1,008,  a  reduction  of  252  in 
the  two  years  that  the  state  has  been  dry,  and  at  the 
rate  we  are  going  now,  I  would  not  be  surprised  to 
see  the  population  down  to  less  than  800  by  the  first 
of  January,  1917. 

From  what  I  have  learned  from  the  inmates  of 
this  institution  themselves,  the  largest  majority  of 
them  were  under  the  influence  of  liquor  at  the  time 
they  committed  the  crimes  for  which  they  were  con- 
victed. There  is  no  doubt  but  that  prohibition  has 
helped  the  citizenship  of  this  state. 
Yours  very  truly, 

M.  Z.  WHITE,  Warden." 


It  has  been  said  that  prohibition  destroys 
property  and  takes  from  men  employment. 
Prohibition  does  not  destroy  property.  It  does 
change  the  purpose  for  which  the  property  is 
used.  The  room  formerly  used  for  a  saloon  is 
now  rented  for  some  legitimate  business.  Pro- 
hibition will  throw  out  of  employment  a  few 
men,  compared  with  the  many.  There  are, 
however,  other  lines  of  legitimate  employment 
for  these  few  men.  Moreover,  the  properties 
that  have  been  used  for  the  making  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  may  be  used  for  other  purposes, 
and  for  purposes  employing  a  large  number 
of  men.  This  can  be  illustrated  by  conditions 
irxj  West  Virginia.  The  Reyman  Brewing 

95 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Company,  at  Wheeling,  had  one  of  the  largest, 
if  not  the  largest,  brewery  in  the  state.  The 
Reyman  brewery  has  been  converted  into  a 
large  meat-packing  plant,  with  a  larger  cap- 
ital, and  more  men  employed  than  were  em- 
ployed when  the  plant  was  used  as  a  brewery. 

The  Huntington  brewery,  at  Huntington, 
has  likewise  been  converted  into  a  large  meat- 
packing establishment,  employs  a  number  of 
men,  and  in  addition,  has  created  a  local  mar- 
ket for  the  producers  of  live  stock.  The  brew- 
eries at  Bluefield,  Fairmont  and  Parkersburg 
are  now  utilized  as  wholesale  ice-cream  facto- 
ries, and  each  seems  to  be  doing  a  large  busi- 
ness. The  Benwood  brewery  has  been  con- 
verted into  a  chemical  plant,  manufacturing 
certain  chemicals  from  tobacco  stems,  and 
seems  to  be  doing  a  more  prosperous  business 
than  when  a  brewery.  The  Kanawha  brewery, 
at  Charleston,  has  been  converted  into  a  cold 
storage  plant,  and  is  used  for  that  purpose  by 
a  large  wholesale  concern  in  that  city. 

Rooms  that  were  occupied  as  saloons  are 
now  used  for  legitimate  lines  of  business,  and 
in  many,  if  not  most,  instances,  the  owners  re- 
ceive higher  rents  than  formerly  when  occu- 
pied by  saloons.  In  a  number  of  cities,  streets 
which  were  almost  wholly  given  over  to  the 
saloons  and  to  the  rowdy  element  have  become 

96 


WHEN  A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

important  business  streets,  and  property  lo- 
cated thereon  commands  a  higher  price  today 
than  it  commanded  when  the  state  was  "wet." 

Mr.  Henry  Ford,  the  great  organizing 
genius  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  according  to 
statements  appearing  in  the  public  press,  has 
recently  suggested  to  the  owners  of  plants  de- 
voted to  the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  liq- 
uors the  profitable  use  of  such  plants,  viz.,  the 
manufacture  of  denatured  alcohol  as  fuel  for 
motor  engines. 

With  these  few  suggestions  respecting  the 
economic  side  of  prohibition,  it  is  hoped  this 
chapter  may  awaken  the  interest  of  the  reader 
and  thus  lead  him  to  make  further  investiga- 
tion of  this  side  of  the  question. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Foreigner 

THE  Baltimore  News,  some  months  ago, 
contained  the  following  editorial : 
"No  better  work  is  being  done 
in  or    for   Baltimore    than    by  the 
Jewish  Educational  Alliance  in  its  classes 
for  immigrants.     They    are    diligent  and 
hopeful  students,  these  hundreds  of  men 
and  women  that  the  Alliance  teaches,  de- 
termined to  acquire  that  acquaintance  with 
written  and  spoken  English  that  will  fit 
them  for  citizenship  and  for  their  battle 
with  the  world. 

"The  great  present-day  problem  of 
immigration  to  this  country  is  that  of  as- 
similatingl  these  outlanders,  ignorant  of 
our  tongue  as  of  our  institutions  and 
ideals,  into  the  fabric  of  the  American  na- 
tion. From  this  mass  of  ignorance  and 
prejudice  comes  a  large,  perhaps  the  larg- 
est part  of  the  recruits  who  swell  the 
ranks  of  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World  and  kindred  organizations.  Easily 
influenced,  easily  led,  because  they  are  at  a 
disadvantage  in  the  struggle,  they  reject 
helpful  counsels  they  do  not  understand  or 

98 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

the  inspiration  of  which  they  regard  as 
selfish  and  look  on  with  suspicion,  in  favor 
of  the  visionary's  wild  dream  or  the  crim- 
inal agitator's  incitement  to  violence.  As- 
similation of  immigration  is  made  even 
more  difficult  by  the  frequent  loss  of  sym- 
pathy between  the  immigrant  parents  and 
their  children  and  the  resultant  failure  of 
discipline  and  family  solidarity.  The  chil- 
dren attend  school  and  learn  a  language 
that  is  a  closed  book  to  their  elders ;  too 
often  it  happens  that  they  look  with  con- 
tempt on  Old-World  habits  and  Old- 
World  speech. 

"It  is  some  of  these  conditions  that 
the  Alliance  labors  with  such  zeal,  devo- 
tion and  intelligence  to  correct.  Fathers 
and  mothers  and  the  younger  folk  who  will 
be  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  to-morrow 
are  learning  English  for  themselves  and 
acquiring  incidentally  an  acquaintance 
with  American  institutions.  If  it  is  per- 
mitted to  suggest  an  addition  to  the  cur- 
riculum, we  offer  the  Flag  Day  address  of 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  Lane,  delivered 
to  the  clerks  of  the  Interior  Department 
and  printed  yesterday  on  the  editorial  page 
of  The  News.  No  better  description  of 
what  the  American  flag  symbolizes  and  of 

99 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

what  American  patriotism  means  can  any- 
where be  found." 

There  are  many  thousands  of  foreigners 
employed  in  the  mills,  mines  and  forests  in 
West  Virginia.  They  neither  speak  our  lan- 
guage nor  understand  American  institutions. 
Relatively  speaking,  it  would  appear  that  the 
foreigners  violate  law  more  than  our  own  peo- 
ple. One  familiar  with  the  criminal  courts  is 
often  impressed  with  the  large  public  expense 
incurred  in  the  prosecution  of  foreigners 
charged  with  offenses.  And  yet  one  is  almost 
persuaded  to  believe  that  our  own  citizenship — 
state  and  national — is  as  much  at  fault,  if  not 
more,  than  the  foreigner.  What  have  we  done 
to  educate  the  foreigner  respecting  our  laws 
and  institutions?  Many  offenses  are  undoubt- 
edly committed  by  foreigners  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  ignorant  of  our  laws  and  institu- 
tions. 

Impressed  with  this  fact,  efforts  have  been 
made  to  educate  the  foreign-speaking  people 
in  the  state  respecting  the  state's  prohibition 
laws.  Therefore,  pamphlets  explaining  the 
prohibition  laws  have  been  printed  in  many 
foreign  languages  and  distributed  to  the  for- 
eigners working  in  the  mining,  manufacturing 
and  lumbering  plants  throughout  the  state. 
The  distribution  was  greatly  facilitated  by  the 

100 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

co-operation  of  the  owners  and  operators  of 
such  plants — the  pamphlets  being  distributed 
through  the  pay  offices  with  the  pay  envelopes. 
The  expenses  of  the  translations  and^rjUjting 
were  paid  by  the  Anti-Saloon  League'  bf '  the 
state. 

Recently  the  owner  and  operator  of  a  large 
industrial  plant  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
prohibition  laws  of  the  state  would  largely  pre- 
vent disputes  between  capital  and  labor,  and 
in  a  statement  further  said:  "That  he  had  re- 
cently conversed  with  a  very  intelligent  Italian 
and  inquired  of  him  why  his  countrymen,  par- 
ticularly from  Southern  Italy,  were  so  much 
inclined  to  be  anarchistic.  That  the  Italian 
had  replied  that  in  his  own  country,  particu- 
larly in  sections  thereof,  there  were  conditions 
which  tended  to  make  certain  classes  dissatis- 
fied, and  to  hold  anarchistic  views;  that  they 
left  their  own  and  came  to  this  country,  seek- 
ing to  improve  their  conditions;  that  the  first 
reading  matter,  received  by  them,  after  arrival 
here,  were  anarchistic  papers,  printed  in  their 
own  language,  the  general  teaching  whereof 
led  them  to  believe  that  our  government  is  op- 
pressive and  our  people  unfair;  and  that  there- 
fore naturally  they  were  led  in  the  direction 
of  lawlessness  rather  than  in  the  direction  of 
becoming  law-abiding  citizens. " 

101 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Continuing  the  operator  said:  "It  would 
be  well  for  patriotic  citizens  to  organize  a  sys- 
tem, having  for  its  object  the  publication  of  a 
pamph!et,  setting  forth  in  the  several  lan- 
guages of  the  foreign  immigrants  coming  to 
•  liis  country,  the  fundamental  objects  and  pur- 
poses of  our  government,  and  that  there  is  no 
need  for  a  man  to  be  anarchistic  to  succeed 
here;  and  to  have  such  pamphlet  delivered  to 
each  immigrant  through  the  Federal  immigra- 
tion officers  upon  the  arrival  of  the  immigrant 
at  Ellis  Island." 

The  foreigner,  however,  is  here.  It  is  said 
by  those  opposed  to  prohibition  that  the  for- 
eigner comes  with  his  fixed  notions  respecting 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  that  he  will 
have  intoxicating  liquors  regardless  of  law. 
Such  argument  is  not  tenable.  Experience 
teaches  that  the  foreigner  is  quick  to  assimilate 
information  respecting  intoxicating  liquors 
when  the  information  is  given  to  him  in  his 
own  language.  In  a  ward  of  a  large  city;  the 
population  whereof  was  made  up  almost  en- 
tirely of  foreigners,  the  experiment  was  tried. 
Literature  against  the  liquor  traffic,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  foreigners,  was  distributed 
throughout  the  ward.  At  the  municipal  elec- 
tion the  ward  elected  "dry"  members  to  the 
city  council. 

102 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

Does  not  the  foreigner  have  enough  dif- 
ficulties in  a  strange  land?  The  laws,  customs, 
language  and  institutions  are  all  strange  to 
him.  Why  add  to  his  difficulties  and  his  prob- 
lems the  curse  of  the  saloon  simply  because  he 
is  a  foreigner ! 

In  many  industrial  centers  throughout  the 
country  large  numbers  of  foreigners  are  fre- 
quently found.  They  are  employed  in  great 
industrial  plants.  In  case  of  serious  riots  and 
disorders,  the  rioters  are  usually,  if  not  always, 
intoxicated.  In  such  condition  they  are  easily 
led  to  acts  of  great  violence  resulting  in  de- 
struction of  property,  and  even  the  taking  of 
life  itself.  After  the  riot  has  started,  the  saloon 
is  closed.  Here  is  a  recognition  of  one  of  the 
causes,  if  not  the  cause  of  the  highly  excited 
condition  of  the  rioters.  Would  it  not  be  better 
if  the  saloon  were  abolished  rather  than  tem- 
porarily closed  while  the  drunken  rioter  is 
beaten  into  submission? 

Again,  the  argument  is  made  on  behalf  of 
the  liquor  traffic  that  the  foreigner  will  have 
intoxicating  liquors  and  that  therefore  the  sa- 
loon must  necessarily  remain.  Such  argument 
is  a  reproach  to  American  manhood  and  a  sur- 
render of  American  ideals.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  foreigner  should  understand  when  he 
comes  to  this  land  that  he  will  be  gladly  re- 

103 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

ceived,  provided  he  comes  with  the  purpose  of 
being  a  loyal  citizen  with  respect  for  law  and  a 
desire  to  conform  to  American  ideals  and 
American  institutions.  And  on  his  arrival  he 
should  be  taught  that  American  ideals  will  not 
be  surrendered  to  suit  the  personal  habits  or 
notions  of  the  foreigner.  And  further,  that  if 
he  does  not  propose  to  respect  law  and  con- 
form to  American  ideals  and  American  institu- 
tions, but  prefers  to  follow  the  ideals  and  insti- 
tutions of  other  nations,  then  there  is  no  place 
for  him  in  America. 

Prohibiting  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
tends  to  turn  the  foreigner's  attention  to  self- 
improvement.  The  following  letter  is  quoted 
in  support  of  the  statement  just  made: 

"MILBURN   COAL  COMPANY 

MILBURN,  W.  VA. 

Charleston,  W.  Va.,  January  27,  1916. 
"Dear  Sir: — About  a  week  ago,  two  or  three  of 
our  foreign  miners  came  to  the  office  and  said  that 
now  that  their  whisky  was  taken  away  from  them, 
they  had  nothing  to  do  in  the  evening ;  and  wanted  to 
know  if  we  would  not  start  a  night  school  so  they 
could  learn  to  read  and  write  our  language.  I  can 
assure  you  we  lost  no  time  in  arranging  a  night  school 
for  these  men.  At  the  first  meeting  there  were  four- 
teen men  attending,  and  indications  are  there  will  be 
twenty  to  twenty-five  who,  in  the  near  future,  will  be 

104 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

benefiting  themselves  mentally  and  otherwise,  instead 
of  injuring  both  body  and  mind. 

Yours  sincerely, 
P.  M.  McCLANAHAN,  President." 

Which  is  better  for  the  foreigner — to 
spend  his  evenings  in  drink  or  in  the  school 
room? 

In  the  following  chapter  the  relation  of 
prohibition  to  preparedness  is  discussed.  In 
any  preparedness  program  the  foreigner  in  our 
country  occupies  no  small  place. 

Foreigners  are  here  by  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  and  they  are  annually  coming  to 
our  shores  by  the  tens  of  thousands.  They 
come  from  countries  where  they  were  op- 
pressed and  where  opportunities  were  small, 
and  after  arriving  here,  this  pressure  being  re- 
moved, they  soon  acquire,  through  the  wrong 
kind  of  education  and  otherwise,  exaggerated 
ideas  of  liberty,  and  thus  interpret  license  for 
liberty.  With  the  removal  of  this  pressure  and 
with  the  acquired  exaggerated  ideas  of  liberty, 
they  give  way  to  indulgence  and  dissipation, 
and  this  indulgence  and  dissipation  takes  form 
partly  in  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors. 

These  perverted  ideas  of  liberty  which  the 
foreigner  has  acquired  from  the  scheming  poli- 
tician as  well  as  from  the  so-called  personal 

105 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

liberty  advocate,  soon  develop  into  strong  an- 
archistic tendencies.  The  result  of  all  this  is 
that  he  loses  his  respect  for  law  and  authority, 
and,  consequently,  his  loyalty  and  fealty  to  the 
United  States  becomes  a  negligible  quantity. 
And  it  goes  without  saying  that  without  loy- 
alty of  the  people  there  is  not  much  use  for 
anything  else  in  any  kind  of  a  preparedness 
program. 

Foreigners  already  here  and  who  are  still 
landing  on  our  shores,  their  children,  and  their 
children's  children  are  to  become  no  small  part 
of  the  future  citizens  of  this  nation.  This  fact 
must  certainly  be  considered  along  with  the 
question  of  preparedness.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  the  birth  rate  among  the  foreign  popula- 
tion of  this  nation  is  much  higher  than  among 
those  whose  ancestors  have  lived  in  this  coun- 
try for  several  generations.  This  large  birth 
rate  among  the  foreigners  presents  not  only 
an  economical  and  social  question,  but  also  a 
patriotic  question. 

In  order  for  children  to  develop  into  the 
best  of  citizens  they  must  be  properly  born  and 
properly  reared  and  trained.  This  applies,  of 
course,  to  children  born  of  any  parentage,  but 
since  the  birth  rate  is  higher  among  the  foreign 
population,  and  because  of  the  habits  of  many 
of  the  parents,  the  question  as  regards  them 

106 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

takes  on  a  more  serious  aspect.  Many  a  child 
is  begotten  while  its  parents  are  under  the  in- 
fluence of  drink,  and  many  a  woman  partakes 
of  drink  while  the  helpless  offspring  of  which 
she  is  to  be  the  mother  is  developing  and  the 
innocent  babe  comes  into  this  world  handicap- 
ped from  the  cradle,  born  with  a  predisposition 
to  weaknesses  in  its  system.  It  is  not  only  an 
ancient  statement  that  when  a  parent  eats  souf 
grapes  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge,  it 
is  also  a  scientific  fact  that  children  inherit 
predisposition  to  the  weaknesses  of  their  par- 
ents and  that  their  lives  are  influenced  by  the 
habits  and  practices  of  their  mother  before  the 
children  see  the  light  of  day. 

Many  of  the  children  of  the  foreign  born 
population  may  be  thus  handicapped,  and  this 
fact  added  to  the  further  fact  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  children  is  to  be  found  in  nearly  each 
and  every  foreign  family  makes  a  question  of 
no  little  importance.  The  many  mouths  to 
feed,  the  many  feet  to  be  shod,  and  the  many 
little  bodies  to  clothe  by  the  foreign  father,  to- 
gether with  the  circumstances  under  which 
these  children  are  born,  make  it  most  import- 
ant that  such  conditions  should  surround  the 
foreigner  already  here  as  well  as  those  who  are 
coming  here,  as  that  each  foreign  father  may 
conserve  his  earning  power  and  may  save  to 

107 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

the  uttermost  what  he  has  earned,  to  insure 
these  foreign  children  a  decent  beginning  and 
a  decent  birth,  and  the  proper  food  and  cloth- 
ing and  environment  after  they  have  come  into 
existence.  This  means  the  elimination  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  from  the  foreigners  as  well 
as  from  other  men  and  women. 

The  weakness  of  the  children  brought  into 
the  world  under  such  adverse  conditions  may 
be  developed  into  a  strong  and  killing  appetite 
by  permitting  intoxicating  liquors  to  remain 
within  reach,  but  to  keep  away  intoxicating 
liquors  will  prevent,  or  at  least  tend  to  prevent, 
the  development  of  this  weakness,  and  on  the 
other  hand  will  give  the  body  and  mind  a 
chance  to  increase  in  strength  and  power.  This 
foreign  blood  is  to  flow  through  the  arteries 
and  veins  of  this  nation,  and  if  we  want  to  de- 
velop and  preserve  a  strong  manhood  and 
womanhood  and  a  sturdy  citizenship,  every- 
thing must  be  done  that  can  be  done  to  make 
and  then  keep  the  blood  of  this  nation  clean 
and  pure  in  order  that  this  nation  may,  through 
its  people,  be  strong  in  body,  mind  and  soul, 
without  shame  properly  face  the  future. 


108 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Preparedness 

HISTORY  teaches  that  great  nations  of 
the     earth — nations     that     rose     to 
splendor  and  fell  to  decay — came  to 
their  decline  and  end,  not  so  much  by 
forces     without,    as    the    undermining   forces 
within — forces  within  that  destroyed  the  mor- 
als and  virtues  of  the  citizens,   and  thereby 
destroyed  the  nation's  first  line  of  defense — a 
healthy,  vigorous  and  righteous  citizenship. 

Contemporaneous  events  and  the  daily  ex- 
periences of  sister  nations  now  engaged  in  the 
greatest  war  the  world  has  known,  all  empha- 
size the  truth  that  a  clean,  strong  citizenship 
is  the  first  essential  of  preparedness.  Back  of 
the  munitions  plant,  back  of  the  great  gun, 
back  of  the  trench,  must  be  the  man — the  moral 
and  physical  man.  Back  of  the  man  in  the 
trench  must  be  the  officer  who  directs  the 
movements  of  millions  of  men;  and  back  of  the 
officer  in  supreme  authority  must  be  a  virile 
citizenship  standing  for  civic  and  national 
righteousness — a  citizenship  not  undermined 
by  the  vices  that  unfit  the  mind  to  grasp  the 
full  duty  of  citizenship  and  which  leave  the 

109 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

body  incapable  of  rendering  efficient  service 
in  defense  of  the  nation,  whether  in  the  shop, 
the  field  or  in  authority. 

The  great  nations  now  at  war  have  learned 
that  one  of  the  first  essentials  to  preparedness 
is  rigid  restriction,  if  not,  indeed,  prohibition, 
of  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  not  alone  as 
to  the  man  in  the  field,  but,  also  as  to  the  citizen 
at  home.  The  leading  cabinet  member  of  one 
of  the  great  warring  nations  has  recently  de- 
clared that  his  nation  is  fighting  three  great 
enemies,  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  three  being 
intoxicating  liquors. 

The  building  of  the  Panama  Canal  will 
probably  make  the  Caribbean  Sea  to  the  west- 
ern hemisphere  what  the  Mediterranean  is  to 
the  eastern  hemisphere.  With  the  return  of 
peace  and  the  rehabilitation  of  nations  now  at 
war,  there  will  pass  by  us  new  currents  of  trade. 
With  the  coming  of  peace  there  will  come,  per- 
haps, the  fiercest  of  contests  for  trade,  and 
trade  supremacy  upon!  the  high  seas,  and  a 
shifting  of  races.  If  any  nation  at  war  should 
annihilate  its  enemy,  particularly  the  latter's 
naval  power,  without  practical  destruction  of 
its  own  strength,  we  may  not  be  surprised  if 
that  nation  should  attempt  to  appropriate  to 
itself,  without  regard  to  the  rights  of  others, 
the  high  seas  and  the  markets  of  the  world. 

no 


WHEN   A  STATE   GOES   DRY 

Our  nation,  by  reason  of  its  wealth,  position 
and  prominence,  may  be  called  upon  to  render 
great  services  for  men  and  nations. 

New  problems  as  great,  if  not  greater, 
than  the  nation  has  ever  had  to  face  lie  before 
us.  To  solve  these  problems,  to  meet  condi- 
tions— conditions  changing  with  the  rapidity 
of  the  kaleidoscope — requires  strong  bodies 
and  clear  heads.  Let  us  hope  that  we  may 
meet  them,  and  solve  them,  by  peaceful  means. 
But  let  us  as  a  nation  be  prepared  to  meet  the 
problems  and  the  fierce  competition  that  may 
be  ahead  of  us.  If  it  comes  to  the  arbitrament 
of  the  sword,  let  us  be  prepared  for  the  time 
when  it  comes. 

France  has  learned,  and  learned  quickly, 
that  her  national  drink  has  undermined  her 
people.  Germany  has  learned  that  the  man  in 
the  field  who  fights  best  for  the  Fatherland  is 
the  temperate  man.  England  has  learned  that 
her  sons  make  the  most  valiant  soldiers  when 
their  endurance  is  not  undermined  by  strong 
drink.  And  Russia,  the  nation  that  has  sur- 
prised the  world  by  the  force  of  her  blows — 
Russia  has  learned  that  she  must  have  national 
prohibition.  And  Russia,  Russia  that  has  not 
been  counted  foremost  among  the  most  ad- 
vanced nations,  first  of  all  nations  has  become 
the  nation  of  national  prohibition. 

ill 


WHEN   A   STATE   GOES   DRY 

We  read  in  the  press  the  statement  that 
owing  to  their  habits,  less  than  two  out  of 
every  five  Americans  of  military  age  can  pass 
the  strict  physical  examination  required. 
When  properly  considered  this  presents  an 
alarming  situation,  and  it  ought  to  be  a  loud 
warning  for  us  to  learn,  without  paying  the 
very  dear  price  that  the  European  nations  are 
paying,  what  France  has  learned,  what  Ger- 
many has  learned,  what  England  has  learned, 
and  what  slow,  plodding,  oppressed,  sleeping 
Russia  has  learned.  It  may  be  that  Providence 
in  His  kindness  has  favored  our  nation  and  is 
thus  preparing  us  for  the  duties  and  trials  that 
may  be  ahead  of  us,  and  is  putting  into  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  our  people  a  strong  desire 
to  become  a  nation  in  which  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  shall  cease,  and 
so  to  be  a  people  whose  mind  and  body  shall  be 
clean  and  strong  to  meet  whatever  emergen- 
cies may  arise. 


112 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Hope  of  It  All 

MANY  discouragements  will  come; 
many  hearts  grow  faint,  hands 
grow  weary,  and  some  give  up  the 
effort  with  the  exclamation, 
"What's  the  use" — before  the  wreckage  is  all 
cleared  away. 

A  man  engaged  in  the  effort  to  make  ef- 
fective state-wide  prohibition  in  a  state  was 
greatly  discouraged:  He  had  almost  reached 
the  conclusion  that  his  efforts  were  useless.  At 
such  a  moment  he  heard  the  strains  of  martial 
music,  and  upon  looking  out  of  the  window  he 
beheld  a  great  band,  marching  into  view,  and 
playing  the  inspiring  air,  "The  Fight  Is  On/' 

Following  the  band  was  a  procession  of 
hundreds  and  hundreds  of  boys  and  girls,  from 
six  to  twelve  years  of  age,  carrying  small 
American  flags,  boys  and  girls  marching,  as  it 
were,  up  through  the  gates  of  childhood,  pure 
and  eager,  with  the  morning  sunshine  on  their 
faces — and  each  face  a  promise  of  hope. 

Irrepressible  tears  came  into  the  eyes  of 
the  discouraged  man,  and  when  the  procession 
had  passed  from  sight,  he  found  himself  pos- 

113 


WHEN  A  STATE   GOES   DRY 

sessed  of  a  new  strength  and  a  brighter  vision. 
For,  after  all,  these  children,  these  boys  and 
girls  of  to-day — the  men  and  the  women  of  to- 
morrow— are  the  hope  of  it  all. 


114 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JUL  28  1942 


JUN     26  1944 


Cf.  i 


1944 


_  SENT  ON  ILL 


T6Way51f 

•       .  -.    . 


5Jan'56BCQ 


i'57Gfi 


r'RQ  1  T 


REC'D  LD 


APR  16  1959 


ftEc'O- 


JSTHT9  1995 


U.,C.  BERKELEY 


2  0  2003 


LD  21-100m-7,'4v 


64942 


••*•.* 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


